Square piano
Maker
John Osborne
Date1823 ca.
Place MadeBoston, Massachusetts, United States, North America
Serial No.344
Signedengraved on brass plate on nameboard:John Osborne,
Boylston Market,
Boston.
stamped on the surface to the left of the keywell:
JOHN OSBORN. [sic without final E]
No 344
Markings(none seen without taking the action out.)
Descriptionsquare piano in the English style. Compass FF to c4 (68 notes). Naturals covered in ivory; sharps ebony. Standard English square-piano double action. One pedal: dampers. Bichord stringing.
Case with rounded front corners, veneered in mahogany with rosewood crossbanding; cast metal molding near the bottom. Keywell veneered in rosewood with light-colored wood stringing at the ends and brass stringing on the nameboard. Nameboard with inlaid brass nameplate at center, with inlaid brass foliate decoration at the ends. Mahogany dust cover. Two drawers between the first and second and the third and fourth front legs (i.e., no larger third drawer under the keyboard between the second and third legs). Six turned reeded screw-on legs with metal collars at the top; pedal holder in the form of a slender lyre. Lid mahogany with rosewood crossbanding.
DimensionsLength: 1710 mm
Width: 654 mm
Height of case (without drawer): 248 mm
Height of case (with drawer): 338 mm
Dimensions without moldings.
3-octave measure of keys: 488
ProvenanceDonated to the Rotch-Jones-Duff House and Garden Museum in 1986 by Mary Lou Grinnell, Fairhaven, Massachusetts. According to a note on a RJD accession form, the piano “came from a friend of Sara Delano.” One of the family homes of Sara Delano (mother of Franklin Delano Roosevelt) was in Fairhaven, Mass.
Published ReferencesSilva, Ana Sofia. "Digging the Fifties: A Curatorial Perspective on 50 Objects from the NMM Collections." NMM Notes (October 2023): 32-33.
Credit LineGift of The Rotch-Jones-Duff House and Garden Museum, 2012
Object number14650
On View
Not on view
