Object of the Day, Museum Edition: An Antique Zither, 1860

Alpine Zither
1860-1867
Franz Lehner, Prague
The Victoria & Albert Museum

When Stalking the Belle Époque began just over a year ago, I shared images of two antique musical instruments in my collection: an autoharp and a psaltery—both in the zither family. The zither has been around for centuries and has been an important part of both musical and art history. A particular strain, the Alpine zither, was developed by one Johan Petzmayer (1803 - 1884) in Munich, Germany, during the 1820s. This type of zither was played on a table by pressing on the five highest strings with a fretted finger board (operated by the left hand) and plucking alternating strings with the thumb and index finger of the right hand.

Here’s an example of an Alpine Zither from the Victoria and Albert Museum. This particular model was made by Franz Lehner (1801 - 1878). Lehner was a violin maker from Prague. He displayed this attractive instrument at the Paris exhibition of 1867.