Images(3)

Harpsichord 1M

Date1726

Artist/Maker Cusseneers

MediumOak: case, nameboard, stand (with other hardwoods), belly rail, sharps; Spruce: soundboard; Plain light hardwood: bridge; Paper: inner rim covering; Bone: natural key tops; Lead alloy: rose

DimensionsNet dimensions exclude lid, stand and projecting moldings. All dimensions in mm except where noted. Length: 1,875 mm (net 1,851 mm); Width: 743 mm (net 726 mm); Height: 890 mm (net 213 mm)

Credit LineGift of Ms. Catherine B. Hollan

Object number1997-227

DescriptionCASE DECORATION: This has an oak case with a double bent side. A molding surrounds the bottom of the case. The inner rim is decorated with old printed papers. The jack rail is oak with painted green and gold decoration and a gold-lettered inscription.
KEYWELL: The inner keycheeks have a raised area with corner indentation similar to that used on the raised panels of the lid. A rectangular notch in this raised area on the front edge may have engaged with a lockboard to hold it down. The nameboard has three c.1950 panels let into it including one displaying Challis' inscription. The nameboard itself is much older, and carries on the back rim the same old printed paper decoration that decorates the inner rim. Also, old holes in the ends of the nameboard match plugged
holes in the cheek and spine. Challis added two screws that pass through the front of the nameboard into the pin block.
LID: The lid frame is 18.5mm thick (3/4"). The lid has frame and panel construction with decorative shaping of the corners of the raised panels. The lid is very old, showing plugged holes indicating earlier spine hinges. An old lock mortise is now filled, indicating a lockboard that once covered the front of the keywell. The current lockboard has a compass decoration carved into it but never had a lock mechanism and thus is not original. The current prop stick is a standard Challis design.
STAND AND PEDALS: This turned oak stand has curved stretchers near the floor. The legs and stretchers are partly very old. Four pedals were added by Challis for changing stops.
COMPASS: C,D–c3
OCTAVES: 4 oct.
STOPS: Challis-era pedals (left to right): back 8-foot , 4-foot, 8-foot buff, and front 8-foot; two 8-foot registers pluck same choir of strings but with different plucking points
Inscribed• "REBUILT BY / JOHN CHALLIS / 1950" in gilt lettering on front of nameboard
• "CUSSENEERS DUSSELENSIS FECIT MDCCXXVI" in paint on twentieth-century replacement jack rail
Markings• "Faked Jack cover of stained oak." in ink on sticker on back of jack rail, presumably in John Challis's handwriting
• "Challis / 1949" stamped on top key
• "Rebuilt by / John Challis / Detroit Michigan, 1950" in ink near corner of spine and gap
• "I N C" cast into metal rose hole decoration
ProvenancePossibly from Snoeck Collection, Ghent, and Berlin Collection; then belonged to Francis J. H. Byrne of Chickering & Sons during tenure of Arnold Dolmetsch; owned and restored by John Challis of Detroit, MI, and sold to Ray McIntyre in 1950; in 1974 owned by Edward R. McElwee of Hagerstown, MD; sold at McElwee's estate sale on Apr. 22, 1976, to James and Catherine Hollan of Annapolis, MD; given by Catherine Hollan to CWF in 1997; jack rail, original pin block, and another pin block having original top veneer given to CWF by Thomas and Barbara Wolf, who purchased them at McElwee’s estate sale

Exhibition(s)