Trinity College harp

It is uncertain who commissioned the Trinity College harp, although structural evidence suggests it was made in the 15th century.

According to Charles Vallancey writing in 1786, it was reputedly once owned by Brian Boru, High King of Ireland.

[3] However, this link was dismissed by George Petrie in 1840 as "a clumsy forgery, which will not bear for a moment the test of critical antiquarian examination".

[5] The harp bears the coat of arms of the O'Neills but although there are many theories about its ownership through the centuries, none can be substantiated, with no verifiable evidence remaining to indicate the harp's original owner, or subsequent owners over the next two to three hundred years until it reputedly passed to Henry McMahon of County Clare, and finally to William Conyngham, who presented it to Trinity College in 1782.

[11] The earlier heraldic and trade mark designs that were modelled on it were based on a thinner form that was the result of a bad restoration in the 1830s.