upright 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: Edward Konstanty Kerntopf (J. Kerntopf i Syn)

Date: ca. 1883-1885

Village / Town: Warsaw

Country: Congress Kingdom of Poland / present-day Poland

Owner: Museum of Industrial History, Opatówek, ul. Kościelna 1. Gifted in 1994 by Anna Podonowska from Kalisz

Inventory number: MHP 44/I

Description: black polished. Straight-, single- double-, triple-strung; a metal rest pin block; English repetition action with overdampers

Inscriptions: on the keyboard cover a square nameplate inlaid in tin with a frame reads: E. Kerntopf / w WARSZAWIE; on the hitch pin block’s right side a square printed paper sticker in Polish and Russian, with a grand piano image, states: Fabryka fortepianów / J. Kerntopf  / w WARSZAWIE / przy placu Krasińskich / w domu Epszteina / pod filarami N^o 549 (N^o 3 nowy); besides 2749 is pressed alongside 7 [pressed later?]; I E K pressed on the left; tone indications pressed over tuning pins; on the back of the slat blocking keyboard a stamp with a lyre reads: JULIAN KWAŚNIEWSKI / STROICIEL-ORGANMISTRZ and 26 / X - 1945 is penciled; on the action frame’s back N^o 57860 is pressed

Measurements: height 1270, width 1390, depth 345 (640) mm

Materials: wood, metal, ivory

Keyboard compass, stops: A₂-a⁴ – 7 octaves, two pedals – una corda and dampers, moderator with hand lever on the keyboard’s right side

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, s. 232-35

<< Back