A Franco-Flemish double-manual harpsichord, originally a 'transposing' harpsichord made in Antwerp in 1617, possibly by Frans van Huffel.  It was given a bass ravalement in Paris in 1750 by François Étienne Blanchet and it was later given a treble ravalement in 1786 by Jacques Barberini and Nicolas Hoffmann.

 

Cheek painting showing the extended bentside

This shows the cheek painting with the extended bentside on the right from the line of the arrow to the present bentside/cheek join.  The figures on the cheek were probably once centred on the cheek as a whole but, when the bentside was extended, the right-hand end of the cheek and its painting were cut off.  The painting on the extended bentside is clearly by a different hand from the original, 1750 vernis martin decoration.

The case decoration has been partly cleaned, but not restored, in this photograph.

 

Return to the section on the eighteenth-century history of the Franco-Flemish harpsichord

 

Return to the section on the description of the Franco-Flemish harpsichord