Two Unusual "Epinettes" or Table Harps

Left: The Sound Board Pierced with a Heart and a Four-Leaf Clover Motif
Maple and Beechwood
Right: The Sound Board Pierced with a Fleur de Lys and and ”f” Motif
Rosewood and Maple
Both with Metal and Bone Fittings
The Six String Example Branded ”P. Pieffort, Paris” in an Oval Cartouche

The Epinette des Vosges is a plucked string instrument from the Zither family, whose use was confined to two areas of the Vosges Mountains. Origins are uncertain, although the they are thought to have originally been introduced from Sweden or to have descended from the Medieval Psaltery. They are known to have existed in this form from the C18th. Similar instruments from the folk music tradition are variously known as the ”Mountain Dulcimer”, ”Hog Fiddle”, ”Appalachian Mountain Harp” and ”Box Dulcimer”. This example dates from the ”Traditional or Pre-Revival Period, Mid 1800s to 1940”.

France c. 1880 - 1900

24.25” high x 2.75” wide x 1.25” deep

Ref: 48/26