Queen Mary Harp

It is also said to have been adorned at one time with a gold portrait of Mary which is why the harp is associated with the queen of Scots and was subsequently passed down into the Robertson family of Lude, in Perthshire.

The forepillar or Lamhchrann is elaborately carved with a double-headed zoomorphic figure and the instrument retains traces of pigment.

[7] The decoration includes a number of pieces of Christian symbolism suggesting that the harp may have been made as a commission for a church or monastery.

[8] The vine-scrolls and the particular shape of the "split palmette" leaves have clear parallels with 15th century West Highland grave slabs from the Argyll area, suggesting that this is the time and place that the harp originated.

[2] A grave-slab in the chapel at Keills in Knapdale has a carving of a harp similar in appearance to the Queen Mary.