Square piano
Maker
Alpheus Babcock
Date1828 ca.
Place MadeBoston, Massachusetts, United States, North America
Serial No.346
SignedMade by A. Babcock / for R. Mackay / Boston (plate on front of piano in highly stylized cursive)Markings346 (on d' on key frame underneath music rack in pencil and stamped various other places).
Wilde (in pencil on keyboard frame).
In addition, each hammer is numbered 1-68; and each tuning peg is lettered.
DescriptionCompass: FF-c4' (68 keys)
One pedal: dampers
Case of mahogany paneling and rosewood crossbanding, with decorative brass stringing. The piano has a wooden frame.
DimensionsLength: 1686 mm
Width: 656 mm
Height: 241 mm
Height with legs: 840 mm
ProvenanceMade by Babcock for R. Mackay. Throughout the 1820s, Babcock was associated with The Mackays of Boston. Names such as G. (George) D. Mackay and R. (Ruth) Mackay are often found on Babcock’s nameboards from this period.
Previously owned by Edith M. Sloan, Waynesville, North Carolina.
Published ReferencesJohn 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. 295.
Credit LineGift of Jerry L. and Libbie Bowder, 1997
Object number06102
On View
Not on view
