Italian Single Manual Harpsichord: Museum Object and Cultural History

The object in the museum catalogue

This harpsichord was made by an unknown maker in Italy, in the 19th century. It is a single manual harpsichord with a compass of C/E - c3, and a disposition of 1 x 8’. The harpsichord has a cypress soundboard with an unusually large rose of gilt parchment and canvas surrounded by raised beading of gilt gesso, and boxwood naturals and ebony accidentals. There is a spurious nameboard that is inscribed: “Giovanni Andrea Menegoni. Venetus. Ficit. [sic] 1690.”

The inseparable outer case is elaborately painted with a pale yellow background with panels outlined in relief decorations. The panels feature medallions with profile heads surrounded by painted floral and rope designs. The interior of the lid is painted with a landscape with figures and buildings. The two painted front legs are joined by a lyre and the third leg carved differently and painted with similar decorations.

There are examples of Menegoni harpsichords in the Historisches Museum Basel and in the Hans Adler Collection in the University of the Witwatersrand in Johannesburg, South Africa.

Materials, dates and provenance

• date made: 19th century
• Object Name: harpsichord
• Physical Description: wood (overall material)
• Physical Description: metal (overall material)
• Physical Description: paint (overall material)
• Measurements: overall (instrument only): 8 1/4 in x 28 7/8 in x 69 3/4 in; 20.955 cm x 73.3425 cm x 177.165 cm
• Measurements: overall: 9 in x 28 3/4 in x 69 1/2 in; 22.86 cm x 73.025 cm x 176.53 cm
• place made: Italy
• ID Number: MI.332174
• accession number: 93944
• catalog number: 332174
• Credit Line: Gift of Hugo Worch
• Data Source: National Museum of American History

Sources and reuse

Catalogue descriptions and facts adapted from National Museum of American History through the Smithsonian's official Open Access dataset. This record explicitly marks its metadata CC0 1.0; formatting and selection have been changed.