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: Erard

Date: 1900

Village / Town: Paris

Country: France

Owner: Fryderyk Chopin Institute. Gifted by the Polish Ministry of Foreign Affairs in 2009, formerly at the Polish Embassy in Paris, France

Description: rosewood veneered. Straight-, single-, double-, triple-strung; composite frame with six metal stress bars and a capo tasto bar for the upper half of stringing; armoured highest register; English double escapement action with under dampers

Inscriptions: on the keyboard cover inlaid in brass: Erard / Paris; stamped on the soundboard's left side, keyboard cover, and other parts: 80012; stamped inside, on the right side: A.P EP; painted in black on the soundboard centre: 14214 and: Par Brevet d’Invention / Seb: & P^re Erard / 13 & 21 rue du Mail, / Paris; on the casing's frame, an oval metal plaque with an openwork inscription: 11635 and the following stamped: AMBASADA R.P. / PARYŻ; next to these, a printed octagonal paper sticker featuring a stamp: AMBASADA R.P. / w Paryżu; and inked: XIX – 2 / 1949.

Measurements: height 370 (980), width 1400, depth 2300 mm

Materials: wood, metal, ivory

Keyboard compass, stops: A₂-a⁴ – 7 octaves, two pedals – una corda and dampers

Catalog card by: Benjamin Vogel

Bibliography: D. Pawlak, ‘Érard’, Encyklopedia muzyczna PWM, vol. 3, ed. E. Dziębowska (Kraków, 1987);  E. M. Frederick, ‘Erard, Sébastien (et Frères)’, Encyclopedia of Keyboard Instruments, vol. 1 The Piano, ed. R. Palmieri (New York, 1994)

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