Piano
1881 (made)
| Artist/Maker | |
| Place of origin |
Collard & Collard were a well-established firm of musical instruments makers whose name is stamped on the sound-board, immediately below the upper lid, on this piano. In March 1881 they sent the action or workings of the piano to James Shoolbred and Co., furniture manufacturers, who made the case. H.W. Batley, a designer of furniture and interiors, was responsible for the design of the case and had supplied a very similar design for a furnished interior by Shoolbreds shown at the Paris International Exhibition in 1878.
Both Batley and Shoolbreds specialised in Aesthetic furniture which incorporated motifs, patterns and details taken from Japanese designs. The use of naturalistic carving and bevelled panels, with the keyboard supported on turned columns, on this piano shows how non-European styles influenced the design of Victorian domestic furniture.
Both Batley and Shoolbreds specialised in Aesthetic furniture which incorporated motifs, patterns and details taken from Japanese designs. The use of naturalistic carving and bevelled panels, with the keyboard supported on turned columns, on this piano shows how non-European styles influenced the design of Victorian domestic furniture.
Object details
| Categories | |
| Object type | |
| Materials and techniques | Satinwood, with boxwood carvings |
| Brief description | Upright piano; satinwood with boxwood carvings; designed by Henry W. Batley; made by James Shoolbred & Co.; Britain; 1881. |
| Physical description | Upright piano; satinwood with boxwood carvings; |
| Dimensions |
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| Style | |
| Production type | Limited edition |
| Marks and inscriptions | With voice of Angel / In hir Armonie (The lettering carved above the keyboard is based on a line in Geoffrey Chaucer's poem, Assembly of Fowls, in which birds are imagined gathering on St Valentine's Day to choose their mates:
'On every bough the birdes heard I sing,
With voice of angell, in hir armonie') |
| Credit line | Bequeathed by Donald Arthur |
| Historical context | James Shoolbred & Co employed Batley to furnish the house they built on the Street of Nations at the Paris Exhibition of 1878. Batley's designs included suites of satinwood and boxwood furniture as well as a piano of the same design as W.26-1983. The example shown in Paris in 1878 may be that, with a matching stool, with H. Blairman & Sons, London, 2002, and now in the Minneapolis Institute of Art. This piano has a silvered label above the keyboard with the names of the makers and a number, 110020 and facsimile signature, W. Hutchinson, on the action. |
| Subject depicted | |
| Summary | Collard & Collard were a well-established firm of musical instruments makers whose name is stamped on the sound-board, immediately below the upper lid, on this piano. In March 1881 they sent the action or workings of the piano to James Shoolbred and Co., furniture manufacturers, who made the case. H.W. Batley, a designer of furniture and interiors, was responsible for the design of the case and had supplied a very similar design for a furnished interior by Shoolbreds shown at the Paris International Exhibition in 1878. Both Batley and Shoolbreds specialised in Aesthetic furniture which incorporated motifs, patterns and details taken from Japanese designs. The use of naturalistic carving and bevelled panels, with the keyboard supported on turned columns, on this piano shows how non-European styles influenced the design of Victorian domestic furniture. |
| Bibliographic reference | Susan Weber Soros, ‘Re-discovering H.W.Batley (1846-1932). British Aesthetic Movement Artist Designer and Designer, Studies in Decorative Arts, IV, 2 (Spring-Summer 1999, pp.2-41) |
| Collection | |
| Accession number | W.26-1983 |
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| Record created | January 21, 2003 |
| Record URL |
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