Square Piano: Museum Object and Cultural History

The object in the museum catalogue

The maker of his square piano is unknown, but it is believed to have been made in Holland in the late 18th century. This piano has an English single jack action with a wire with a leather stud on top, also known as “old man’s head.” The piano has a compass of FF-f3, single jack action, leather hammers, double-string with tuning pins at right, 3 hand stops: treble dampers, lute stop, bass dampers and 1 pedal or knee-lever (missing): moderator, a wood frame, and a mahogany (?) case.

Materials, dates and provenance

• Date made: 1760 - 1776
• Object Name: piano
• Physical Description: steel (strings material)
• Physical Description: leather (overall material)
• Physical Description: brass (ring; strings material)
• Measurements: case: 8 1/8 in x 61 1/4 in x 22 5/8 in; 20.6375 cm x 155.575 cm x 57.4675 cm
• Measurements: legs: 22 in; 55.88 cm
• Place Made: Netherlands
• ID Number: MI.229668
• accession number: 42336
• catalog number: 229668
• Credit Line: Mrs. John Crosby Brown
• 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.