Eglantine table

Unknown

Item type:

furniture

Date of creation:

ca. 1568-1569

Height:

90.0 cm  (35 7/16 in.)

Width:

302.0 cm  (118 7/8 in.)

Depth:

129.0 cm  (50 13/16 in.)

Technique / Medium:

wood

Place of creation:

London (England)

Additional titles

Description

From the National Trust website: The so-called 'Aeglentyne' Table, probably London, circa 1568, the walnut, fruitwood and limewood top inlaid with various timbers in three bands of elaborate marquetry depicting musical instruments, musical scores, playing cards, gaming boards and strapwork containing armorials, symbols and mottoes of Cavendish, Hardwick and Talbot, all around a central cartouche inlaid with the motto 'THE * REDOLENT * SMLE * / * OF * AEGLENTYNE / WE * STAGGES * EXAVET * / TO * THE * DEVEYNE'. This table is one of the rarest surviving pieces of furniture in England, and has been a draw for those visiting Hardwick for centuries. It takes its name from the motto inlaid to the centre of its top, which refers to 'aeglentyne' or 'eglantine', the old word for a sweet briar rose. The rose was part of the Hardwick arms (Bess adopted it in favour of the cinquefoil used by other members of her family); later the rose-collared stag would be adopted by the Cavendishes. The thirteen musical instruments depicted include a four-course guitar, several viols and bows, a cittern, two shawms, bagpipes, a lute, a harp, a horn, a recorder, a sackbut and two cornetti. One of the depicted music books bears a four-part setting of 'O Lord in Thee is all my trust' by Thomas Tallis, which was first printed in London in 1563.

Iconclass

48C73
musical instruments; group of musical instruments
48C74
notation of music
43C512
playing-cards
43C52
board-games
46A122
armorial bearing, heraldry

Instruments [MIMO Code] (notes)

Lute [3394]
Cittern [3106]
Guitar [3237] (4-course Renaissance guitar)
Violin [3573] (fretted)
Viol [3597]
Bagpipe [3746]
Shawm [4258]
Harp [3285]
Recorder [4039]
Sackbut (trombone) [4364]
Cornett [3868]
Horn (coiled, small)

Musical works

Tallis, Thomas -- O Lord in Thee is all my trustlegible music notation
depicts several examples of music in staff and tablature notations

RIdIM images

Image URLs

image link 1

Bibliographic references

Bank, Katie. "(Re)creating the Eglantine table", Early music 48/3 (August 2020) 359-375.

Collins, David. "A 16th-century manuscript in wood: The Eglantine table at Hardwick Hall", Early music 4/3 (July 1976) 275-279. RILM 1976-02438.

Segerman, Ephraim and Djilda Abbot. "Stringed instruments on the Eglantine table", Early music 4/4 (Oct. 1976) 485.

Fleming, Michael and Christopher Page, eds. Music and instruments of the Elizabethan Age: the Eglantine table (Woodbridge: The Boydell Press, 2021). ISBN 9781783274215.

RIdIM record id

7145