Double Chromatic Harp

Double chromatic harp by Henry Greenway, Brooklyn, New York, ca. 1895 (NMM 5728). One of only two such instruments known to survive, the other preserved at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York. Birdseye-maple resonator and columns; 74 strings; 43 strings on neck to player's left; 31 on neck to player's right. Gilded gesso ornamentation at tops, bottoms, and centers of columns, featuring roses, five-petal flowers, leaves, and a shield at the columns' crossing point. Interiors of neck arches and soundboard are painted with gold scrolling, highlighted in black. There are 8 soundholes in the back of the resonator and no pedals. Greenway's signature appears on the interior of the arch, at the player's left, in gold and black paint, accompanied by a label opposite the signature. He lists himself as the inventor and sole maker of the Chromatic Harp, working out of his shop at 545 Atlantic Street in Brooklyn.