Description

Art Cased Erard Piano

An 1861, Erard grand piano with an ornate burr walnut, black and gilt cabinet. Piano casework features Egyptian Revival and Neoclassical elements. The black decoration on this piano reflect the death of Prince Albert in December 1861. The music desk in an intricate, openwork arabesque design. The serpentine piano cheek is in black and burr walnut with gilt borders. It features a carved motif of a sun disk surrounded by golden palm leaves. The four sided baluster piano legs are in black, gold and walnut with carved swagged fabric, paterae and lotus embellishment. The pediment features two black paterae with stylised gold hibiscus. The piano lid is in burr walnut with black borders and carved decoration in low relief. At the piano tail, a circular motif bordered with spiralling rope contains four symmetrical anthemions. Above the piano fall, a semi-circular sun motif is bordered with stylised swags and palm leaves. The piano fall repeats smaller versions of the decorative carvings seen on the lid.

Porcelain Tiles

Two hand-painted porcelain tiles are mounted on the piano side.They are both edged with a black border and have a gold embossed, patterned background . One tile features a coy girl in a black hat with fluttering ribbons holding a fan and purse. The second depicts a young boy in a red hat playing a lute.

William Lomax

A plaque beneath the piano lid reads William Lomax, cabinet maker, 79 Oxford Street, Manchester .

Egyptian Revival

With the rise of Neoclassicism, sometimes architects mixed the Ancient Greek, Roman and Egyptian styles. They wanted to discover new shape and ornament ideas, rather than to be just faithful mimics of the past. Egyptian motifs provided an exotic alternative to the more traditional styles of the day. In addition to the more overtly Egyptian-influenced forms, there were also geometric patterns and references to organic and plant forms. As more literal translations of ancient Egyptian art passed out of style, designers began adopting these more artistic motifs. The Egyptian Revival was popular in decorative arts throughout the nineteenth century, continuing into the 1920s. This looser adaptation of the vocabulary of Egyptian antiquities represents a taste for eclecticism at the turn of the century.

Egyptomania

Egyptian Revival is attributed generally to the public awareness of ancient Egyptian monuments generated by Napoleon's conquest of Egypt and Admiral Nelson's defeat of the French Navy at the Battle of the Nile in 1798. Napoleon took a scientific expedition with him to Egypt. Publication of the expedition's work, the Description de l'Égypte, began in 1809 and was published as a series through 1826. The size and monumentality of the façades discovered during his adventure cemented the hold of Egyptian aesthetics on the Parisian elite. In 1822, French scholar Jean-François Champollion deciphered hieroglyphics when he translated the Rosetta Stone. In 1869, the Suez Canal opened in Egypt, connecting the Mediterranean and Red seas. A number of world’s fairs included Egyptian displays. Archaeologists and scholars continued to publish numerous accounts of their discoveries in Egypt throughout the century. Theater productions, such as the highly acclaimed opera Aida, set in ancient Egypt, debuted in Cairo in 1871 and New York in 1873.

Erard

Erard was founded by Sébastien Erard (1752-1831). Trained in Strasbourg, Erard moved to Paris in 1768 and began making pianos for the French nobility. He was later joined by his brother Jean-Baptiste Erard (1749-1826) and the business grew, especially after Royal commissions from Marie-Antoinette, but suffered during the French Revolution. The family opened a London outlet in 1790/1, which concentrated on the production of harps. Sébastien is famous for making a great number of technical improvements and inventions and took out between fifteen adn twenty patents in England alone. After the death of Sébastien Erard, Jean Baptiste's son Pierre (1794-1855) took over the busines in Paris and London, winning a gold medal at the 1824 Paris Exposition and later becoming piano maker to Albert, Prince Consort. Many illustrious pianists played Erard instruments, including Liszt and Mendelssohn.