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: Johann Ast

Date: ca. 1850

Village / Town: Vienna

Country: Austrian Empire / present-day Austria

Owner: Andrzej Szwalbe Collection, Ostromecko Palace near Bydgoszcz. Bought in 1982 from Roch Hernes from Limanowa

Inventory number: MOK-VII-FZ-025, formerly PN-VI-60-121

Description: ash veneered. Straight-, double-, triple-strung; composite frame with two metal stress bars, two hitch pin block gap spacers and a treble capo tasto bar. Viennese action with lever dampers

Inscriptions: inlaid in brass on the keyboard cover with geometrical and floral decoration and imperial eagle: JOH: AST / NEUE WIEDEN N^o 715 / BÜRGER IN WIEN; black painted on the soundboard: Johann Ast / bürgl. Forte Piano Fabrikant / IN WIEN

Measurements: height 375 (930), width 1360, depth 2400 mm

Materials: wood, metal, ivory

Keyboard compass, stops: C₁-a⁴ – 6⅔ octaves, two pedals – una corda and dampers

Catalog card by: Benjamin Vogel

Bibliography: R. Hopfner, Wiener Musikinstrumentenmacher 1766-1900, (Tutzing 1999), p. 34; B. Vogel, Kolekcja zabytkowych fortepianów Filharmonii Pomorskiej, (Bydgoszcz, ²1987) p. 26

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