grand piano

Classification: 3 Chordophones / 31 Simple chordophones or zithers / 314 Board zithers / 314.1 True board zithers / 314.1-4-8 True board zithers sounded by hammers or beaters, with keyboard

Piano maker: Pett (?) Bauer

Date: July 1833

Village / Town: Breslau / present-day Wrocław

Country: Prussia / present-day Poland

Owner: Andrzej Szwalbe Collection, Ostromecko Palace near Bydgoszcz. Bought in 1988 from Krzysztof Michalak from Kościan

Inventory number: MOK-VII-FZ-034

Description: mahogany veneered (?). Straight-, double-, triple-strung; two metal gap spacers. Divided bridge. Viennese action with rack dampers. Casing with an open bottom. Missing: nameplate, two legs and moderator (?). Casing repainted (lacquered) in black

Inscriptions: penciled on the soundboard’s back: Pett Bauer / Breslau / July 1833; penciled on an additional wooden plate on the casings bottom, near the tail: achtungs Popes Welb / Dochter / des Lopchomerr...; penciled on the pedal lyre fixation plank: Pett Bauer Wrocław 1832

Measurements: height 350 (880), width 1195, depth 2250 mm

Materials: wood, metal, animal bone

Keyboard compass, stops: F₁-f⁴ – 6 octaves, three pedals – una corda, moderator (?) and dampers

Catalog card by: Benjamin Vogel

Bibliography: Letter and sketch by the former owner, Krzysztof Michalak; H. Heyde, Musikinstrumentenbau in Preussen, (Tutzing 1994), p. 402; Adressbuch der Haupt= und Residenz=Stadt Breslau, (hrsg.) Friedrich Mehwald, (Breslau 1832) p. 60

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