Harpsichord and stand with japanned case decorated with chinoiserie decoration in gold, silver and some colour on the black ground of the outer case (undecorated on the long side) and red ground inside the lid. The stand has seven spirally turned legs and also has chinoiserie decoration on a black ground.

'The finely japanned case and framed stand of seven spiral-turned legs are decorated with vaguely chinoiserie scenes and figures in gold, silver and bronze tones on a black ground based on engravings by Jacques Stella. The crudely executed red and gold ornamentation inside the instrument is said to have been added to match the decorative colour scheme of the room in the Château de Savigny-les-Beaune, where the harpsichord was housed until shortly before it was acquired by the Museum.'

Howard Schott, Catalogue of Musical Instruments in the Victoria and Albert Museum. Part I: Keyboard Instruments (London, 1985), p. 63.

Following the Netherlandish custom, the harpsichord soundboard is decorated with naturalistic flowers. The parchment rosette (the soundboard hole) is decorated in the Gothic style, as are the arcadings of the keys.

Purchased from Ronald A. Lee Works of Art, London, with the assistance of the vendor

Soon after it was built, this harpsichord is said to have been delivered to the Château de Savigny-les-Beaune, Burgundy, the property of le comte de Migieu. According to family tradition, it stood in the room occupied by Louis-Bénédicte de Bourbon, la Duchesse du Maine (1676-1753), who was briefly interned there in 1719 after the failure of the Cellamare Conspiracy against the Régence of 1718. This royal princess, grand-daughter of the Great Condé and wife of a natural child of Louis XIV and Madame de Montespan, may well have owned a fine instrument such as this, made in a workshop patronised by the king; she was fond of music, and it played an important part in her lavish Divertissements at her country residence at Sceaux, in the Île-de-France (described in a two-volume work entitled Les Divertissements de Sceaux).

The owners of Savigny, when the instrument left the château, some while before it was acquired by the Museum in 1974, claimed that the harpsichord had been in the building since it was new - in 1681, at which date the Duchesse du Maine would have been about five years old.

'Shortly before she died in August-September 1975, the Comtesse de Chambure rang me from Paris to say that she had made contact with members of the family who insisted that the traditional association with the Duchesse du Maine was true. The red and gold decoration inside the lid echoed the japanned décor of the room where the harpsichord always stood and this had been her room while she was exiled to Savigny. Presumably she had the room re-decorated sometime after she arrived and the harpsichord was taken in with the scheme as a whole. Maybe this was when the compass was extended and the early 18th century playing card used for packing.

It might therefore be the case that we are really dealing with a royal instrument, made, by a maker accredited to the court of Louis XIV, for a royal princess who took it with her into exile.

As she was widely famed as a patroness of musicians and for the musical entertainments she put on at her Château at Sceaux, an instrument associated with her is likely to have been the best available in its day. If the tradition is rejected, one has to assume that the Migieu family patronised a royal instrument maker - which is not inconceivable but is rather less likely than the traditional alternative.'

Memo by Peter Thornton, October 1975 (Departmental catalogue).

A French late seventeenth-century fan-leaf in the collection of the Museum (T.155-1978) is painted with a scene showing a harpsichord. The scene is no doubt imaginary but gives some idea of the setting in which such an instrument could have been seen. From an early stage the instrument had a box of organ pipes fitted to the front legs so it could be played as a claviorgan (a combination of a harpsichord and an organ). In the eighteenth century, as often happened, the instrument was altered in a 'petit revalement' to extend the range. The keyboard was extended by three notes in the bass and two in the treble, and the bridge was slightly altered to accommodate the extra strings. Features on the stand suggest that the instrument was also fitted with a pull-down pedal keyboard, When acquired by the museum, the instrument was dismantled and restored to its original seventeenth-century configuration by Adlam & Burnett. It was played by Kenneth Gilbert at a concert of works by seventeenth-century French composers held in the museum on May 13, 1975.

Copies have been made of the Vaudry harpsichord since it was acquired by the Museum. One of the first was made in 1976 by David Rubio and decorated by Ann Mactaggart.

Performances and recordings since 1974

May 13th 1975 - concert performance by Kenneth Gilbert: pieces by Chambonnières, d'Anglebert, Couperin and Marais

LP 36913 Harpsichord by Vaudry (1681: W12-1974), played by Trevor Pinnock, 29/3/ 76.
Front (12FRR 139397 - S)
F.Couperin
Prélude 2 (l'Art de Toucher le Clavecin) - 1'50"
La Laborieuse - 4'30"
Courante 1 - 1'40"
Sarabande - 1'50"
L'Antoine - 1'15"
Gavotte - 1'20"
La Florentine - 1'45"
La Garnier - 3'55"
Rigaudon - 3'55"
La Voluptueuse - 3'10"
La Diane, Fanfare - 2'10"


Back (12FRR 36913 - S)
1. L.Couperin
Prélude (1) - 5'10"
Allemande (36) - 2'25"
Pièce de trois sortes de Mouvemens (37) - 1'40"
Courante (38) - 1'20"
Sarabande (51) - 1'55"
Volte (53) - 40"
La Pastourelle (54) - 50"
Chaconne (57) - 2'45"

2. Chambonnières
Rondeau - 1'40"
3. Courante - 1'10"
4. d'Anglebert: Minuet - 1'40"
5. Gaspard le Roux: Passepied - 1'.


Recording by Bob van Asperen, 11th July 1995 (recorded by Jim Divers)
Couperin (suite in D minor)
Louis-Nicolas Clérambault
Johann Jakob Froberger

Although at least two harpsichords by a maker called Vaudry (as well as one by a certain Vaudrez) are listed in an inventory of the workshop of the later harpsichord maker Jacques Bourdet (c.1660-1737), this instrument, signed on both the jack-rail and the underside of the harpsichord, is the only known surviving example by this maker. The Vaudry family included Jean-Antoine (d.1750), who in 1718 claimed the title 'seul maître faiseur d'instruments de musique du Roi à la suite du grand conseil' (only master maker of musical instruments to the King attendant upon the Grand Council) suggesting he may have been allowed to dispense with the Parisian guild mastership tests, presumably due to previous patronage and the high quality of his craftsmanship. Presumably, he was a younger relation of the Vaudry who made the 1681 instrument.

The duchesse du Maine's room at Savigny was adorned with Chinese-inspired motifs or chinoiseries, and the case of this harpsichord certainly would have matched it. In decorating her room in the Chinese taste she would have been closely following one of the most innovative European fashions of the time. Several japanners worked at the Gobelins where furnishings of all kings were being produced for royal use and, as this instrument was made in a workshop patronised by the king, it is quite possible his harpsichord case was decorated in this royal establishment. Certainly work of this kind was done at the Gobelins for, when a certain Sieur de Neumaison died, he is said to have been 'Director of Japanning work in paintwork and gilding for the king' (directeur des ouvrages de la Chine en peinture et dorure pour le roi).

The scenes painted on the sides of the harpsichord based on a variety of sources, apparently copied directly from imported porcelain and lacquer, as well as printed sources. The chinoiserie decoration is probably based on direct observation of Asian porcelain and lacquer, as no illustrated books on japanning had yet been published (Stalker and Parker's work appeared in London in 1688 and Boutet's Trait de la Miniature of 1674 mentions japanning but has no illustrations). The printed sources include the engravings of pastoral scenes by Claudine Bouzonnet Stella after the designs by Jacques Stella, which were published as Pastorales (Paris, 1667); for example, the procession of figures with a dog is the reverse of an engraving entitled Le Soir (no. 12). The figures of the swordsmen are taken from Varie Figure Gobbi (Florence, 1619) by Jacques Callot (c.1592-1635), with Chinese hats added to transform them. The European peasants shown in the engravings have been given an outlandish air by the decorator of this instrument who was evidently seeking to imitate Asian lacquerwork.

Harpsichords are shaped roughly like grand pianos. The sound is made by the action of the keys, which makes the quills pluck the strings inside the instrument. This example was made in 1681 by Jean-Antoine Vaudry in Paris which by that date was Europe’s leading centre producing luxury goods.

This is perhaps the earliest dated French object to be decorated with Chinoiserie ornament at a time when all things to do with China were becoming highly fashionable throughout Europe. Vaudry, or possibly his son, was recorded in 1718 as 'seul maître faiseur d'instruments de musique du Roi à la suite du grand conseil', and he produced harpsichords for the household of the king. Several japanners worked at the Gobelins where furnishings of all kinds were being produced for royal use, and as this instrument was made in a workshop patronised by the king it is possible that the case was decorated there. The scenes painted on the sides are mostly based on engravings of pastoral scenes drawn by Jacques Stella and published in Paris in 1667. The European peasants shown in the engravings have been lent an foreign air by the decorator of this instrument, who was evidently seeking to imitate Asian lacquerwork.

The harpsichord was formerly at the Château de Savigny-les-Baune, seat of the Comtes de Migieu and subsequently of the Vicomtes de Vaulchier. According to tradition, it stood in a room occupied in the eighteenth century by the Duchesse du Maine (1676-1753) while she was in exile at Savigny after the abortive Cellamare conspiracy in 1718. The Duchesse was famed as a patron of musicians and for the musical entertainments she put on at her château at Sceaux, near Paris, and the instrument may have been brought to Savigny by her. The red and gold decoration inside the lid - which is less finely decorated than that on the exterior of the case - is thought to have been added at this time to reflect a decorative scheme possibly introduced by the Duchesse.

W.12:1 to 4-1974