A Franco-Flemish double-manual harpsichord, originally a transposing harpsichord made in Antwerp in 1617, and then ravalé in Paris, possibly by François Étienne Blanchet in 1750, and then in stages by Jacques Barberini, Paris, c.1775 and by Nicolas Hoffman, 1786.

 

 

The stand of the Franco-Flemish harpsichord after cleaning and restoration

 

 

          This photograph shows the stunning stand underneath the Franco-Flemish harpsichord.  The escutcheons at the summit of the legs are ribbed and framed with elegant foliate decoration.  The cabriole legs have elaborate goat feet (cabriole means 'to leap like a goat').  The height of the stand is greater than normal and raises the instrument into a slightly higher playing position than is usual. This may have been done to accommodate the luxurious ladies gowns and petticoats.  Visually the raised position makes the instrument look particularly striking and imposing.

          It is  in a French Roccoco style, and seems to date to 1750.  Like the case of the instrument it has been widened to accommodate the compass extension of 1786 by widening the front stretcher and the near end of the bentside stretcher.  This strongly suggests that the stand is contemporary with the outer-case decorations and paintings of 1750 and that it was, along with the rest of the instrument, widened in 1786.   

Important Features of this harpsichord

 

A brief history of the musical and decorative states of the Franco-Flemish harpsichord

 

Details of the original state of the instrument

 

Details of the eighteenth-century states of this harpsichord

  

 Details of the modern history of this harpsichord

 

 A problem encountered in the ethical restoration of this harpsichord

 

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