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: Józef Wasilewski

Date: ca. 1840-1845

Village / Town: Warsaw

Country: Congress Kingdom of Poland / present-day Poland

Owner: Andrzej Szwalbe Collection, Ostromecko Palace near Bydgoszcz. Bought in 1981 from Felicja Woźniak from Pułtusk

Inventory number: MOK-VII-FZ-019, formerly PN-VI-60-117

Description: walnut veneered; casing decorated with low-relief acanthus leaf bands; legs decorated with human masks. Straight-, single-, double-, triple-strung; two metal frame stress bars and a capo tasto bar for the upper half of stringing. Viennese action with rack dampers. Casing shortened by cutting the tail by about 500 mm; a metal bass rest pin block and heavier strings added. Tuning pins unoriginal (square)

Inscriptions: over the keyboard, a label inlaid in brass and tin, embellished with a geometric floral ornament: J. WASILEWSKI / W WARSZAWIE

Measurements: height 345 (890), width 1320, depth 1930 mm

Materials: wood, metal, celluloid

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

Catalog card by: Benjamin Vogel

Bibliography: B. Vogel, Fortepian polski. Budownictwo fortepianów na ziemiach polskich od poł. XVIII w. do II wojny światowej, (Warszawa 1995), p. 271; B. Vogel, Kolekcja zabytkowych fortepianów Filharmonii Pomorskiej, (Bydgoszcz, ²1987) p. 68

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