Cittern - Image 2

Front view of cittern possibly made by Petrus Rautta, England, 1579. The fanciful head is carved in the form of a howling dog, perhaps a humorous reference to the quality of the music played on the instrument, a word-play on a text or person now lost to us, or simply a delightful expression of the carver's art. Citterns had a colorful reputation in 16th-century England, as attested by references in the literature of the time. Shakespeare alludes to the typical grotesque carvings by using the term, 'cittern-head,' as an insult in 'Love's Labors Lost,' written about 1595.