Images(3)

Square Piano

Dateca. 1808

Artist/Maker John Broadwood & Son

MediumMahogany: case veneer, hammer-rail cap, action brackets, intermediate levers, internal folding music desk; Oak: case substrate, key-frame balance and front rails, damper underlevers; Beech: bridge; Plain light hardwoods: key fronts, damper blocks, nameboard veneer (slightly figured); Limewood: key levers; Softwoods: dust board, bottom, key-frame back and side rails; Ebony: sharps; Ivory: natural key tops; Iron: tuning pins; Brass: bottom molding, leg ferrules, casters, lid hinges; Tinned brass: damper wires ??=========== Mahogany, brass, deal, ebony, ivory, metal, wool, silk, etc.

DimensionsNet dimensions exclude lid, stand and projecting moldings. All dimensions in mm except where noted. Length: 1,679 mm (net 1,654 mm); Width: 620 mm (net 617 mm); Height: 823 mm (net 237 mm)

Credit LineGift of Mrs. Ellen S. Wyant

Object number1994-109

DescriptionCASE DECORATION: The oak case is veneered with mahogany veneer with a slight ribbon-stripe. There is black line stringing and lacewood(?) crossbanding. A solid brass molding surrounds the case above the bottom. A vertical molding of solid ebony is applied to the two front corners of the case. Lid hooks survive at each end of the case for the lid; no hook ever existed at the front of the case for the short lid flap.
KEYWELL: The inked inscription oval is on white wood, probably horse chestnut, with painted musical trophies including stringed, brass, and wind instruments; harp and tympani(?); and foliage. Pierced fretwork vents have a traditional design and are backed by green silk of which only fragments remain. Surrounding the white veneer are two thin string lines (white and black) surrounded by mahogany(?) banding. The keywell ends are similarly veneered.
LID: The lid is of standard three-piece construction (a small flap is over the front section of the soundboard). The lid is solid mahogany with two lines of black stringing and lacewood(?) crossbanding. A thumb molding surrounds the lid. Three butt hinges attach the lid to the case, and the flaps have 7 butt hinges hinging them together. Mahogany prop sticks are screwed to the inside of both ends of the case.
STAND AND PEDALS: Six turned and reeded legs have brass ferrules on top, brass casters and brass caster cups below, and are threaded at the top to screw into the case.
ACTION AND MUSICAL SPECIFICATIONS: English double action with wire-mounted dampers on underlevers. The top 1/2 octave strikes through slot in soundboard but all keys use the main key-frame. One pedal (now missing) raised the dampers. Piano is double strung
INTERNAL NOTES: There is an internal folding music desk in addition to the one formed by the lid flap. The cheek block houses a storage box with a lid. A slab-sawn spruce dust board has white paint on top with two thin black border lines and is pierced for the dampers.
COMPASS: FF–c4 (5 oct. + 7 notes)
STOPS: One pedal (now missing): for dampers; pedal column also missing

Inscribed"John Broadwood & Son, / Makers to His Majesty, / and the Princesses. / Great Pulteney Street, Golden Square, / London." in pen on nameboard
Markings• "N 12,598" in pen at right end of pin block
• "[J H?]" in pen on bass end of pin block
• "Hodges" in pen on top of d3 key
• "L W M," "E R E," "M D M," "L W," and similar but illegible marks on soundboard
• "N. 12598" in pencil on back of nameboard
• "W" in pencil on back of nameboard in two places
• "12533 Hunter" in pen on underside of dust board
• "12679 / B[a?]ll" in pencil on right key-frame side rail

ProvenanceBought by James Thomas Marshall at courthouse auction of second-hand furniture in Charlottesville, VA, for daughter Eliza Ellen Marshall (m. Norris) ca. 1861–1862; given to CWF by James Marshall's great-granddaughter Ellen S. Wyant of Charlottesville in 1994

Exhibition(s)