Copy of a Ruckers 'spinett' virginal
Made in Edinburgh by Grant O’Brien in 1981
Details about
the soundboard rosette
After his appointment to the
archducal court of Ferdinand and Isabella in Brussels in 1615, Ioannes Ruckers
used three different rosettes to decorate the soundboards of his
instruments: he used a rosette of
diameter 85 mm in his double-manual harpsichords, a smaller rosette of diameter
73 mm for his single-manual harpsichord and a rosette of diameter 65 mm in the
virginals that he made. The rosette in
this instrument is based on the usual 65 mm diameter virginal rosette and is,
except for the initials ‘GB’, a copy of the rosette in the 1629 Ioannes Ruckers
4˝ voet spinett virginal in the Brussels Museum of Musical Instruments
(Brussels Museum Catalogue Number 2511).
The rosette was copied, cast and
gilded by Grant O’Brien.
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