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: Julian Małecki

Date: ca. 1875

Village / Town: Warsaw

Country: Congress Kingdom of Poland / present-day Poland

Owner: Andrzej Szwalbe Collection, Ostromecko Palace near Bydgoszcz. Bought in 1979 from Aniela Korzeniowska from Falenica

Inventory number: MOK-VII-FZ-028, formerly PN-VI-60-97

Description: rosewood veneered. Straight-, single-, double-, triple-strung; composite frame with four metal stress bars and a treble capo tasto bar for the upper half of the stringing. Viennese action with lever dampers

Inscriptions: on the keyboard cover, Małecki / W WARSZAWIE inlaid in brass and mother-of-pearl, embellished with floral ornament, alongside medals from the 1867 Paris exhibition: avers featuring the emperor’s head and inscription: NAPOLEON III EMPEREUR / Z. MÜNCHHEIMER F. [fecit, – Warsaw medalist Karol Zygmunt Munchheimer], reverse featuring an eagle, laurel wreath and two cupids holding a label saying: J. MAŁECKI and EXPOSITION UNIVERSELLE DE MDCCCLXVII A PARIS / Z. MÜNCHEIMER [sic] F.; on the inside of casing’s right wall, a printed rectangular paper sticker (missing) with medals from exhibitions in Paris 1867 and Vienna 1873: FABRYKA FORTEPIANÓW / MAŁECKIEGO / W WARSZAWIE / na Sewerynowie N^o 2779 / przy ulicy Aleksandrya; penciled on the keyboard’s wedge frame: 845; penciled on the dampers’ frame back: N^o 875 T[?] W.

Measurements: height 360 (890), width 1400, depth 2080 mm

Materials: wood, metal, ivory

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

Catalog card by: Benjamin Vogel

Bibliography: B. Vogel, Fortepian polski. Budownictwo fortepianów na ziemiach polskich od poł. XVIII w. do II wojny światowej, (Warszawa 1995), pp. 246-247; B. Vogel, Polskie fortepiany XIX-XX w. Kolekcja Muzeum Historii Przemysłu w Opatówku, (Opatówek 1994); B. Vogel, Kolekcja zabytkowych fortepianów Filharmonii Pomorskiej, (Bydgoszcz, ²1987) p. 54

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