Semi-Grand Piano
1907 (made)
| Artist/Maker | |
| Place of origin |
This piano was made by London-based John Broadwood & Sons. The original design for the case was made by Sir Edwyn Lutyens (1869-1944) for an 'oak drawing room in the Jacobean style' in the British Pavilion at the Paris Exhibition of 1900. Lutyens described the task of designing the piano as 'awfully difficult'. Between September 1903 and July 1907, John Broadwood & Sons produced a total of ten of these 'Drawing-Room Grands', as they called them, and priced them at 350 guineas (£375.50p) each. This example was completed by February 1907.
Object details
| Category | |
| Object type | |
| Parts | This object consists of 2 parts.
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| Materials and techniques | Panelled oak, wrought iron, ivory naturals and ebony sharps, spruce soundboard and malleable iron frame |
| Brief description | English 1907 des. E.Lutyens man. Broadwood within Lutyens piano, 1907 |
| Physical description | Piano. Iron frame, compass with 88 notes (AAA-c5). Fitted with a Roller-Knotch action supplied by Schwander of Paris. Overstrung with eight overspun unichords, 15 overspun bichords, 65 simple tricords. Strings fitted from AAA to e2 with overdampers. The soundboard is of spruce with the grain running across rather than lengthwise, and the strings hitched to a curved frame of malleable iron (strengthened cast iron) It is contained in an oak case with thirteen slender balustraded legs linked by curved stretchers. |
| Dimensions |
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| Production type | Limited edition |
| Marks and inscriptions |
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| Gallery label |
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| Production | Attribution note: A total of ten pianos in this style were made between 1903 and 1907. |
| Summary | This piano was made by London-based John Broadwood & Sons. The original design for the case was made by Sir Edwyn Lutyens (1869-1944) for an 'oak drawing room in the Jacobean style' in the British Pavilion at the Paris Exhibition of 1900. Lutyens described the task of designing the piano as 'awfully difficult'. Between September 1903 and July 1907, John Broadwood & Sons produced a total of ten of these 'Drawing-Room Grands', as they called them, and priced them at 350 guineas (£375.50p) each. This example was completed by February 1907. |
| Bibliographic reference | Howard Schott: Catalogue of Musical Instruments in the Victoria and Albert Museum - Part I: Keyboard instruments. (London, 1998), p. 61 |
| Other number | 49330 - Serial Number |
| Collection | |
| Accession number | W.38:1, 2-1984 |
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| Record created | July 26, 2001 |
| Record URL |
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