Pedal harp, Georges Cousineau, Paris, c.1775
DETAILS
Description
Single-action pedal harp with 34 strings and crochet (hook) action. Grain of soundboard laid crossways; gilded bridge-strip with staples. Four soundholes. Soundboard decorated with painted birds, insects and flowers; scalloped gilded band-edging, also along bridge-strip. Back of seven staves of maple of fine curl; bottom of soundbox closed. Neck and action-cover of ebonised limewood. Acanthus volute crested and embellished. Gilded pillar entwined with carved flowers. Four later gilded claw feet. Seven iron folding pedals, operating 29 crochets. Drilled tuning-pins with tapered square heads and shoulders. Nuts formed of iron pins narrowed to locate strings. Crochets mounted on threaded rods for height adjustment. Secondary nuts formed of individual notched iron inserts lie below the crochets. Tuned in E♭; no action fitted for the two highest and three lowest strings.
[View instrument in print catalogue]
Dimensions
Height: 1662mm. Width: 810mm.