Square piano
Maker
John Kearsing
Distributor
John J. Rickers
Date1825 ca.
Place MadeNew York, New York, United States, North America
Serial No.857
SignedPatent / Made by / John Kearsing / from London / for / John J. Rickers / 187 Broadway / N. YorkMarkingsnone
DescriptionCompass: FF-f4 (6 octaves).
One pedal: dampers
Mahogany veneer with rosewood crossbanding and brass stringing; gold-plate trim.
Six ornately carved legs.
Spruce soundboard
Bottom is pinus strobus (Eastern white pine)
DimensionsLength: 1701 mm
Width: 660 mm
Height of case (without drawers): 270 mm
Height of case (with drawers): 350 mm
ProvenanceThe piano was made for New York City musical instrument dealer John J. Rickers. It was donated to the NMM in 1981 by Marilynn L. Collins, Flossmoor, Illinois.
Published References"Ornately-Decorated Piano Restored to Former Elegance," Shrine to Music Museum Newsletter 11, No. 1 (October, 1983), p.4.
Anne Gallagher, "She Remembers Papa: One Piano's Story," The Star, (July 19,
1981), p. 4. (suburban Cook County, Illinois)
André P. Larson, The National Music Museum: A Pictorial Souvenir (Vermillion: National Music Museum, 1988), p. 57.
Darcy Kuronen, "Keyboard Instruments at The Shrine to Music Museum," Early Keyboard Studies Newsletter, Vol. VI, No. 1 (October 1991), p. 11.
Martha Novak Clinkscale, Makers of the Piano 1700-1820 (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1993), p. 165.
John Koster, “The Technological Development of the Piano in American Squares,” in Geschichte und Bauweise des Tafelklaviers (23. Musikinstrumentenbau-Symposium, October 2002; Michaelsteiner Konferenzberichte 68), ed. by Boje E. Hans Schmuhl and Monika Lustig (Augsburg: Wiáner-Verlag, and Michaelstein: Stiftung Kloster Michaelstein – Musikinstitut für Aufführungspraxis, 2006), p. 294.
Credit LineGift of Marilynn L. Collins, in memory of her father, Wyman H. Carey, 1981
Object number02864
On View
Not on view
