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Clavecin à marteaux (harpsichord with hammers)
Maker: Louis Bas
Date: 1781
Place Made:Villeneuve lès Avignon, France, Europe
Serial No: none
SignedPainted around “rose”: L • BAS • FECIT • 1781
Handwritten in ink on a paper slip glued to the upper surface of the bottom, under the “rose” area of the soundboard:
Ludovicus Bas / faciebat / villanova [prope] avenion[em] / 22e 9[bre] anno 1781 / Fait / par Louis Bas a villeneuve / [lès] avignon le 22[eme] nov-[embre] / 1781
Handwritten in ink on a paper slip glued to the upper surface of the bottom, under the “rose” area of the soundboard:
Ludovicus Bas / faciebat / villanova [prope] avenion[em] / 22e 9[bre] anno 1781 / Fait / par Louis Bas a villeneuve / [lès] avignon le 22[eme] nov-[embre] / 1781
MarkingsROGU (or) RUYCC (cast-in letters on several of the decorative brass mounts)
DescriptionThis instrument, with its beautifully preserved soundboard decoration, is among the earliest extant French grand pianos. It has a Cristofori-type action with a compass of FF-g3 (63 notes). The piano may originally have had two pedals, one for the una corda, the other for the dampers (now missing). Each hammer shank, including the integral butt and lower portion of the head, are formed from a single piece of pearwood. Inverted wrest plank.
Stringing: bichord throughout.
Stringing: bichord throughout.
DimensionsLength: 2163 mm
Width: 935 mm
Overall height: 942 mm
Height of case: 260mm
Spine thickness: 20mm
Bentside thickness: 16.5mm
Tail thickness: 16mm
Tail length: 255mm
Angle of tail with spine: 60 degrees
Bridge height: 13mm
Bridge thickness: 15mm (treble), 18mm (bass)
Three-octave measure: 463mm
Length of heads: 38mm
Width of heads: 20mm
String length: c2: 280 mm (Rose measurement?)
String lengths, striking points (Kelly measurements):
FF: 1697mm, 165mm
C: 1478mm, 145mm
c: 996mm, 107mm
c1: 538mm, 70mm
c2: 277mm, 31mm
c3: 153mm, 5mm
g3: 120mm, 4mm
Width: 935 mm
Overall height: 942 mm
Height of case: 260mm
Spine thickness: 20mm
Bentside thickness: 16.5mm
Tail thickness: 16mm
Tail length: 255mm
Angle of tail with spine: 60 degrees
Bridge height: 13mm
Bridge thickness: 15mm (treble), 18mm (bass)
Three-octave measure: 463mm
Length of heads: 38mm
Width of heads: 20mm
String length: c2: 280 mm (Rose measurement?)
String lengths, striking points (Kelly measurements):
FF: 1697mm, 165mm
C: 1478mm, 145mm
c: 996mm, 107mm
c1: 538mm, 70mm
c2: 277mm, 31mm
c3: 153mm, 5mm
g3: 120mm, 4mm
ProvenancePurchased in 1989 from Hugh Gough, New York, New York. Gough purchased it from a dealer in 1977. Previously it was owned by Bruce King, Houston, Texas, who purchased it in New York in 1949.
Terms
Credit Line: Rawlins Fund, 1989
On view
Published ReferencesGermann, Sheridan. “Harpsichord Decoration: A Conspectus,” in Howard Schott, ed., The Historical Harpsichord, vol. 4 (Hillsdale, N.Y.: Pendragon Press, 2002), p. 146.
Kelly, Rodger S. A Catalog of European Pianos in The Shrine to Music Museum, M.M.Thesis (University of South Dakota: 1991), pp. 13-22.
Koster, John. "Foreign Influences in Eighteenth-Century French Piano Making," Early Keyboard Journal, Vol. 11 (1993), pp. 7-38
-------. "Two Early French Grand Pianos," Early Keyboard Journal, Vol. 12 (1994), pp. 7-37.
-------. "Three Grand Pianos in the Florentine Tradition," Musique- Images-Instruments, Vol. 4 (1998), pp. 102-111.
-------. “Museum Adds Another Treasure . . . Rare 1785 Silbermann Spinet Only Example Outside of Europe,” America’s Shrine to Music Museum Newsletter 26, No. 2 (May 1999), pp. 1-3.
Kuronen, Darcy. "Keyboard Instruments at The Shrine to Music Museum," Early Keyboard Studies Newsletter, Vol. VI, No. 1 (October 1991), p. 10.
Kelly, Rodger S. A Catalog of European Pianos in The Shrine to Music Museum, M.M.Thesis (University of South Dakota: 1991), pp. 13-22.
Koster, John. "Foreign Influences in Eighteenth-Century French Piano Making," Early Keyboard Journal, Vol. 11 (1993), pp. 7-38
-------. "Two Early French Grand Pianos," Early Keyboard Journal, Vol. 12 (1994), pp. 7-37.
-------. "Three Grand Pianos in the Florentine Tradition," Musique- Images-Instruments, Vol. 4 (1998), pp. 102-111.
-------. “Museum Adds Another Treasure . . . Rare 1785 Silbermann Spinet Only Example Outside of Europe,” America’s Shrine to Music Museum Newsletter 26, No. 2 (May 1999), pp. 1-3.
Kuronen, Darcy. "Keyboard Instruments at The Shrine to Music Museum," Early Keyboard Studies Newsletter, Vol. VI, No. 1 (October 1991), p. 10.
Object number: 04653