{"meta":{"version":"2.1","_links":{"self":{"href":"https://api.vam.ac.uk/v2/object/O71019"},"collection_page":{"href":"https://collections.vam.ac.uk/item/O71019/"}},"images":{"_primary_thumbnail":"https://framemark.vam.ac.uk/collections/2013GV6591/full/!100,100/0/default.jpg","_iiif_image":"https://framemark.vam.ac.uk/collections/2013GV6591/","_alt_iiif_image":[],"imageResolution":"high","_images_meta":[{"assetRef":"2013GV6591","copyright":"© Victoria and Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false},{"assetRef":"2013GV6588","copyright":"© Victoria and Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false},{"assetRef":"2013GV6589","copyright":"© Victoria and Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false},{"assetRef":"2006AJ6743","copyright":"© Victoria and Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false},{"assetRef":"2006AE9576","copyright":"© Victoria and Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false},{"assetRef":"2006AE9619","copyright":"© Victoria and Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false},{"assetRef":"2014GW1118","copyright":"© Victoria and Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false},{"assetRef":"2014GW1119","copyright":"© Victoria and Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false},{"assetRef":"2014GW1121","copyright":"© Victoria and Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false},{"assetRef":"2014GW1122","copyright":"© Victoria and Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false},{"assetRef":"2014GW1123","copyright":"© Victoria and Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false},{"assetRef":"2014GW1124","copyright":"© Victoria and Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false},{"assetRef":"2014GW1125","copyright":"© Victoria and Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false},{"assetRef":"2014GW1126","copyright":"© Victoria and Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false},{"assetRef":"2014GW1127","copyright":"© Victoria and Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false},{"assetRef":"2014GW1128","copyright":"© Victoria and Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false},{"assetRef":"2014GW1129","copyright":"© Victoria and Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false},{"assetRef":"2014GW1130","copyright":"© Victoria and Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false},{"assetRef":"2006AE9623","copyright":"© Victoria and Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false},{"assetRef":"2006AF4057","copyright":"© Victoria and Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false},{"assetRef":"2006AF4070","copyright":"© Victoria and Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false},{"assetRef":"2006AF4076","copyright":"© Victoria and Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false},{"assetRef":"2006AF4085","copyright":"© Victoria and Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false},{"assetRef":"2006AF4086","copyright":"© Victoria and Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false},{"assetRef":"2006AF4089","copyright":"© Victoria and Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false},{"assetRef":"2006AJ6741","copyright":"© Victoria and Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false},{"assetRef":"2006AJ6742","copyright":"© Victoria and Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false},{"assetRef":"2006AX7531","copyright":"© Victoria and Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false},{"assetRef":"2021MU7543","copyright":"©Victoria & Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false}]},"see_also":{"_iiif_pres":"https://iiif.vam.ac.uk/collections/O71019/manifest.json","_alt_iiif_pres":[]}},"record":{"systemNumber":"O71019","accessionNumber":"W.12:1 to 6-1974","objectType":"Harpsichord","titles":[],"summaryDescription":"Harpsichords are shaped roughly like grand pianos. The sound is made by the action of the keys, which makes the quills pluck the strings inside the instrument. This example was made in 1681 by Jean-Antoine Vaudry in Paris which by that date was Europe’s leading centre producing luxury goods. \r\n\nThis is perhaps the earliest dated French object to be decorated with Chinoiserie ornament at a time when all things to do with China were becoming highly fashionable throughout Europe. Vaudry, or possibly his son, was recorded in 1718 as 'seul maître faiseur d'instruments de musique du Roi à la suite du grand conseil', and he produced harpsichords for the household of the king. Several japanners worked at the Gobelins where furnishings of all kinds were being produced for royal use, and as this instrument was made in a workshop patronised by the king it is possible that the case was decorated there. The scenes painted on the sides are mostly based on engravings of pastoral scenes drawn by Jacques Stella and published in Paris in 1667. The European peasants shown in the engravings have been lent an foreign air by the decorator of this instrument, who was evidently seeking to imitate Asian lacquerwork.\n\nThe harpsichord was formerly at the Château de Savigny-les-Baune, seat of the Comtes de Migieu and subsequently of the Vicomtes de Vaulchier. According to tradition, it stood in a room occupied in the eighteenth century by the Duchesse du Maine (1676-1753) while she was in exile at Savigny after the abortive Cellamare conspiracy in 1718. The Duchesse was famed as a patron of musicians and for the musical entertainments she put on at her château at Sceaux, near Paris, and the instrument may have been brought to Savigny by her. The red and gold decoration inside the lid - which is less finely decorated than that on the exterior of the case - is thought to have been added at this time to reflect a decorative scheme possibly introduced by the Duchesse.\n\n","physicalDescription":"Howard Schott, Catalogue of Musical Instruments in the Victoria and Albert Museum. Part I: Keyboard Instruments (London, 1985), p. 63.\n\nThe finely japanned case and framed stand of seven spiral-turned legs are decorated with vaguely chinoiserie scenes and figures in gold, silver and bronze tones on a black ground based on engravings by Jacques Stella. The crudely executed red and gold ornamentation inside the instrument is said to have been added to match the decorative colour scheme of the room in the Château de Savigny-les-Beaune, where the harpsichord was housed until shortly before it was acquired by the Museum.\n\nThe harpsichord is signed underneath the soundboard in red wax: Vaudry a Paris 1681. The jack-rail bears the inscription on its proximal face: Vaudry-Paris-1681. The maker's mark, the letter 'V' in red crayon, appears on many concealed parts of the instrument.\r\n\r\nThe keyboard compass is fifty notes, GG/ BB (short octave) - c3. The key levers are of softwood, poplar or lime. The naturals, ebony covered with gilded trefoil arcades carved directly on the ends of the key levers, measure 108mm, lower manual, and 107mm, upper manual, in visible length, and 22mm wide. The key-heads on both manuals are 3 rmm long with two scored lines. The bevelled sharps of solid bone measure 7-12mm wide by 77mm, lower manual, and 76mm, upper manual in length.\n\n3.\tThere are three sets of strings, disposed as follows:\nLower manual: 8-foot<\n4-foot<\n (Coupler)\r\nUpper manual: 8-foot>\r\n\r\nThe registers are controlled by iron stop-levers, one at the left for the lower manual 8-foot, one at the right for the 4-foot. The jacks, nearly all original, are of pearwood and are now fitted with condor quill plectra. The coupler is engaged by pushing in the lower manual. The present brass and iron strings are modern (remains of older stringing material removed during the restoration have been preserved).\n\nString lengths (approximate plucking points) \nLower 8-foot:\r\nGG 1612mm (181mm)\r\nC 1590mm\r\nc 1195mm\r\nc1 708mm\r\nc2 352mm (112mm)\r\nc3 182mm (100mm)\r\n\nThe soundboard is of spruce, measuring from 2.4 to 3.2mm in thickness. The soundboard and wrest-plank bridges are of walnut. Three bars extend across the 4-foot bridge and six bars across the 8-foot bridge. Two fins run from the 4-foot bridge to the 4-foot hitch-pin rail. There is a gilded three-dimensional cut parchment rose. The soundboard is painted in gouache with roses, anemones and tulips in purple, red, white and green, and is bordered with a running scroll (rinceau) pattern in blue. The oak wrest-plank is veneered in spruce to match the soundboard.\n\r\nThe cheek, bentside and tail are of walnut, while the bracing system, spine and baseboard are of softwoocl, probably cedar of Lebanon but possibly pine. The inner surface of the spine, where visible, is veneered in walnut and a walnut moulding is glued along the upper inner edge of the case. Scantlings are as follows:\r\nspine\t11.4 mm\r\ncheek\t9.8 mm\r\nbentside\t4.5 mm\t\t\r\ntail\t10.0 mm\r\nbaseboard\t12.8 mm\n\n\nFurther information\n\nFollowing the Netherlandish custom, the harpsichord soundboard is decorated with naturalistic flowers. The parchment rosette (the soundboard hole) is decorated in the Gothic style, as are the arcadings of the keys.\n\n","artistMakerPerson":[{"name":{"text":"Jean-Antoine Vaudry","id":"AUTH324946"},"association":{"text":"","id":""},"note":""}],"artistMakerOrganisations":[{"name":{"text":"Vaudry Family","id":"A6749"},"association":{"text":"maker","id":"AAT251917"},"note":"except music stand"}],"artistMakerPeople":[{"name":{"text":"","id":""},"association":{"text":"","id":""},"note":""}],"materials":[{"text":"walnut","id":"AAT12476"},{"text":"spruce","id":"AAT12726"}],"techniques":[{"text":"cabinet-making","id":"AAT53607"},{"text":"japanning","id":"AAT53797"}],"materialsAndTechniques":"Japanned walnut case; spruce soundboard; walnut bridges\r\n\r\nIn 1972 six wood samples (locations unrecorded) were examined by V&A scientists; they 'all appear to be the same softwood' and considered probably cedar (of Lebanon).\n","categories":[{"text":"Furniture","id":"THES48948"},{"text":"Musical instruments","id":"THES48919"}],"styles":[],"collectionCode":{"text":"FWK","id":"THES48597"},"images":["2013GV6591","2013GV6588","2013GV6589","2006AJ6743","2006AE9576","2006AE9619","2014GW1118","2014GW1119","2014GW1121","2014GW1122","2014GW1123","2014GW1124","2014GW1125","2014GW1126","2014GW1127","2014GW1128","2014GW1129","2014GW1130","2006AE9623","2006AF4057","2006AF4070","2006AF4076","2006AF4085","2006AF4086","2006AF4089","2006AJ6741","2006AJ6742","2006AX7531","2021MU7543"],"imageResolution":"high","galleryLocations":[{"current":{"text":"5","id":"THES49787"},"free":"","case":"PL1","shelf":"","box":""},{"current":{"text":"002","id":"THES340977"},"free":"","case":"","shelf":"","box":""},{"current":{"text":"5","id":"THES49787"},"free":"","case":"PL1","shelf":"","box":""},{"current":{"text":"FWK3","id":"THES49462"},"free":"","case":"KEYS","shelf":"","box":""},{"current":{"text":"001","id":"THES299291"},"free":"","case":"","shelf":"","box":""},{"current":{"text":"001","id":"THES299291"},"free":"","case":"","shelf":"","box":""}],"partTypes":[[{"text":"Harpsichord","id":""}],[{"text":"Fragments","id":"AAT117130"}],[{"text":"Music stand","id":""}],[{"text":"Key","id":""}],[{"text":"Fragments","id":""}],[{"text":"String cover","id":""}]],"contentWarnings":[{"apprise":"","note":""},{"apprise":"","note":""},{"apprise":"","note":""},{"apprise":"","note":""},{"apprise":"","note":""},{"apprise":"","note":""}],"placesOfOrigin":[{"place":{"text":"Paris","id":"x29068"},"association":{"text":"made","id":"x28654"},"note":"except music stand"}],"productionDates":[{"date":{"text":"1681","earliest":"1681-01-01","latest":"1681-12-31"},"association":{"text":"made","id":"x28654"},"note":""}],"associatedObjects":[],"creditLine":"Purchased from Ronald A. Lee Works of Art, London, with the assistance of the vendor","dimensions":[{"dimension":"Height","value":"94","unit":"cm","qualifier":"","date":{"text":"","earliest":null,"latest":null},"part":"closed","note":""},{"dimension":"Width","value":"81","unit":"cm","qualifier":"","date":{"text":"","earliest":null,"latest":null},"part":"","note":""},{"dimension":"Length","value":"219","unit":"cm","qualifier":"","date":{"text":"","earliest":null,"latest":null},"part":"","note":""}],"dimensionsNote":"Measurements recorded in 'Western Furniture', 1996\r\n\r\nThe harpsichord measures 2176mm long, 768mm wide and 242mm high, with a total height of 900mm from the floor. (Schott)","marksAndInscriptions":[{"content":"Vaudry A Paris 1681","inscriber":{"name":{"text":"","id":""},"association":{"text":"","id":""}},"date":{"text":"","earliest":null,"latest":null},"description":"","interpretation":"","language":"","medium":"","method":"","position":"","script":"","translation":"Vaudry at Paris 1681","transliteration":"","type":"","note":"Inscribed on the jack-rail, and in addition inscribed in red wax crayon underneath the sound board: VAUDRY / à Paris / 1681. The inscription on the jack-rail is blurred and has been repainted over the original lettering, Vaudry Paris 16[. . . ?]."}],"objectHistory":"Object History (from Schott)\r\nThe harpsichord was purchased in London for £18,500 in 1974 with a contribution from Mr Ronald Lee. It is the only extant instrument to have been built by a member of the Vaudry family, who apparently had a Parisian workshop that carried on business for several generations. One Vaudry, presumably Jean-Antoine (c. 1680- 1750), is referred to in a legal document of 1718 as 'maitre seul faiseur d'instruments de musique du Roi ... '. The tradition that this harpsichord once belonged to the Duchesse du Maine, daughter-in-law of Louis XIV, is strengthened by the fact of Vaudry's royal patent. The Duch esse was renowned as a patron of music because of the concerts that she sponsored at the Chateau de Sceaux outside Paris. After the failure of the Cellamare conspiracy against the Regence in 1718, the Duchesse was banished from the court to the Chateau de Savigny-les-Beaune in Burgundy. According to tradition she brought this harpsichord with her at the time and placed it in a room that was then decorated in red and gold, the inside of the lid being painted to match - rather badly. It apparently remained at Savigny until the early 1970s. \r\n\nAfter its original construction, the instrument's compass was enlarged to meet the requirements of eighteenth-century music. First the range was extended to fifty-three notes, GG, AA, BB-flat, BB, C-c3, and then again to fifty six notes, GG-d3 chromatic. At some earlier stage in its life, the instrument was fitted with an organ so as to make it a claviorgan. The pipe-work rested in the front section of the stand below the keyboards of the harpsichord. For this reason the two front legs of the stand and the front rail and stretcher were squared off in part to accommodate the organ case. The bottom board beneath the lower keyboard was pierced to permit the stickers of the organ to reach the keys of the manual, from which the organ was played. During the restoration of the harpsichord in the Adlam Burnett workshop in 1974-5, the original compass was restored and a 10cm section of the bottom board (the portion of the very front of the instrument which had been crudely pierced as noted) was replaced with new wood along with the front rail and stretcher of the stand.\r\n\r\n\nAnalysis\nX-ray(s) of this object are held in the Furniture Collection Library, Box of X-Rays of V&A instruments, shelfmark FW2.G.3 (2024)\n\nReplicas\nA number of copies have been made of the Vaudry harpsichord since it was acquired by the Museum. One of the first was made in 1976 by David Rubio and decorated by Ann Mactaggart.\n\nHistorical note\nSoon after it was built, this harpsichord is said to have been delivered to the Château de Savigny-les-Beaune, Burgundy, the property of le comte de Migieu. According to family tradition, it stood in the room occupied by Louis-Bénédicte de Bourbon, la Duchesse du Maine (1676-1753), who was briefly interned there in 1719 after the failure of the Cellamare Conspiracy against the Régence of 1718. This royal princess, grand-daughter of the Great Condé and wife of a natural child of Louis XIV and Madame de Montespan, may well have owned a fine instrument such as this, made in a workshop patronised by the king; she was fond of music, and it played an important part in her lavish Divertissements at her country residence at Sceaux, in the Île-de-France (described in a two-volume work entitled Les Divertissements de Sceaux). \n\nThe owners of Savigny, when the instrument left the château, some while before it was acquired by the Museum in 1974, claimed that the harpsichord had been in the building since it was new - in 1681, at which date the Duchesse du Maine would have been about five years old.\n\nA French late seventeenth-century fan-leaf in the collection of the Museum (T.155-1978) is painted with a scene showing a harpsichord. The scene is no doubt imaginary but gives some idea of the setting in which such an instrument could have been seen. From an early stage the instrument had a box of organ pipes fitted to the front legs so it could be played as a claviorgan (a combination of a harpsichord and an organ). In the eighteenth century, as often happened, the instrument was altered in a 'petit revalement' to extend the range. The keyboard was extended by three notes in the bass and two in the treble, and the bridge was slightly altered to accommodate the extra strings. Features on the stand suggest that the instrument was also fitted with a pull-down pedal keyboard, When acquired by the museum, the instrument was dismantled and restored to its original seventeenth-century configuration by Adlam & Burnett. It was played by Kenneth Gilbert at a concert of works by seventeenth-century French composers held in the museum on May 13, 1975.","historicalContext":"Performances and recordings since 1974\n\nMay 13th 1975 - concert performance by Kenneth Gilbert: pieces by Chambonnières, d'Anglebert, Couperin and Marais\r\n\r\nLP 36913 Harpsichord by Vaudry (1681: W12-1974), played by Trevor Pinnock, 29/3/ 76.\r\nFront (12FRR 139397 - S)\r\n\tF.Couperin\r\n\tPrélude 2 (l'Art de Toucher le Clavecin) - 1'50\"\r\n\tLa Laborieuse - 4'30\"\r\n\tCourante 1 - 1'40\"\r\n\tSarabande - 1'50\"\r\n\tL'Antoine - 1'15\"\r\n\tGavotte - 1'20\"\r\n\tLa Florentine - 1'45\"\r\n\tLa Garnier - 3'55\"\r\n\tRigaudon - 3'55\"\r\n\tLa Voluptueuse - 3'10\"\r\n\tLa Diane, Fanfare - 2'10\"\r\n\r\n\r\nBack (12FRR 36913 - S) \r\n\t1. L.Couperin\r\n\tPrélude (1) - 5'10\"\r\n\tAllemande (36) - 2'25\"\r\n\tPièce de trois sortes de Mouvemens (37) - 1'40\"\r\n\tCourante (38) - 1'20\"\r\n\tSarabande (51) - 1'55\"\r\n\tVolte (53) - 40\"\r\n\tLa Pastourelle (54) - 50\"\r\n\tChaconne (57) - 2'45\"\r\n\r\n\t2. Chambonnières\r\n\t Rondeau - 1'40\"\r\n\t3. Courante - 1'10\"\r\n\t4. d'Anglebert: Minuet - 1'40\"\r\n\t5. Gaspard le Roux: Passepied - 1'.\n\n\nRecording by Bob van Asperen, 11th July 1995 (recorded by Jim Divers)\nCouperin (suite in D minor)\nLouis-Nicolas Clérambault \nJohann Jakob Froberger \n","briefDescription":"Harpsichord and stand with japanned case decorated with chinoiserie decoration in gold, silver and some colour on the black ground of the outer case (undecorated on the long side) and red ground inside the lid. The stand has seven spirally turned legs and also has chinoiserie decoration on a black ground.","bibliographicReferences":[{"reference":{"text":"","id":""},"details":"","free":"Adlam, Derek, \"Restoring the Vaudry\", Early Music IV, no. 3 (July 1976) pp. 257-265\r\n"},{"reference":{"text":"","id":""},"details":"","free":"Elizabeth Miller and Hilary Young, eds., The Arts of Living. Europe 1600-1815. V&A Publishing, 2015. ISBN: 978 1 85177 807 2, illustrated p. 121."},{"reference":{"text":"","id":""},"details":"","free":"Wilk, Christopher, ed. . Western Furniture 1350 to the Present Day. (London: Victoria and Albert Museum, 1996 ISBN 085667463X), pp. 72-3 entry by James Yorke"},{"reference":{"text":"","id":""},"details":"","free":"SCHOTT, Howard; Baines; Anthony; Yorke, James: Catalogue of Musical Instruments in the \r\nVictoria and Albert Museum. Part I: Keyboard instruments by Howard Schott. Part II: Non-keyboard \r\ninstruments by Anthony Baines. [Reprint 2002 of single volume catalogue with additional \r\ninformation]. (London, V&A Publications, 1998), pp.63-5, no.19"}],"production":"Although at least two harpsichords by a maker called Vaudry (as well as one by a certain Vaudrez) are listed in an inventory of the workshop of the later harpsichord maker Jacques Bourdet (c.1660-1737), this instrument, signed on both the jack-rail and the underside of the harpsichord, is the only known surviving example by this maker. The Vaudry family included Jean-Antoine (d.1750), who in 1718 claimed the title 'seul maître faiseur d'instruments de musique du Roi à la suite du grand conseil' (only master maker of musical instruments to the King attendant upon the Grand Council) suggesting he may have been allowed to dispense with the Parisian guild mastership tests, presumably due to previous patronage and the high quality of his craftsmanship. Presumably, he was a younger relation of the Vaudry who made the 1681 instrument. \n\nThe duchesse du Maine's room at Savigny was adorned with Chinese-inspired motifs or chinoiseries, and the case of this harpsichord certainly would have matched it. In decorating her room in the Chinese taste she would have been closely following one of the most innovative European fashions of the time. Several japanners worked at the Gobelins where furnishings of all kings were being produced for royal use and, as this instrument was made in a workshop patronised by the king, it is quite possible his harpsichord case was decorated in this royal establishment. Certainly work of this kind was done at the Gobelins for, when a certain Sieur de Neumaison died, he is said to have been 'Director of Japanning work in paintwork and gilding for the king' (directeur des ouvrages de la Chine en peinture et dorure pour le roi). \n\nThe scenes painted on the sides of the harpsichord based on a variety of sources, apparently copied directly from imported porcelain and lacquer, as well as printed sources. The chinoiserie decoration is probably based on direct observation of Asian porcelain and lacquer, as no illustrated books on japanning had yet been published (Stalker and Parker's work appeared in London in 1688 and Boutet's Trait de la Miniature of 1674 mentions japanning but has no illustrations). The printed sources include the engravings of pastoral scenes by Claudine Bouzonnet Stella after the designs by Jacques Stella, which were published as Pastorales (Paris, 1667); for example, the procession of figures with a dog is the reverse of an engraving entitled Le Soir (no. 12). The figures of the swordsmen are taken from Varie Figure Gobbi (Florence, 1619) by Jacques Callot (c.1592-1635), with Chinese hats added to transform them. The European peasants shown in the engravings have been given an outlandish air by the decorator of this instrument who was evidently seeking to imitate Asian lacquerwork.","productionType":{"text":"","id":""},"contentDescription":"","contentPlaces":[],"associatedPlaces":[],"contentPerson":[],"associatedPerson":[],"contentOrganisations":[],"associatedOrganisations":[],"contentPeople":[],"associatedPeople":[],"contentEvents":[],"associatedEvents":[],"contentOthers":[],"contentConcepts":[],"contentLiteraryRefs":[],"galleryLabels":[{"text":"Harpsichord\r\n1681\r\nIn the late 17th century, the harpsichord was a popular instrument, performed solo or to accompany instrumental or vocal music. The decoration of harpsichords reflected contemporary taste in interiors. This one is painted in imitation of Asian lacquer. The figures were taken from European prints and adapted to a landscape with pagoda-like buildings and exotic birds.","date":{"text":"2015","earliest":"2015-01-01","latest":"2015-12-31"}}],"partNumbers":["W.12:1-1974","W.12:2-1974","W.12:3-1974","W.12:4-1974","W.12:5-1974","W.12:6-1974"],"accessionNumberNum":"12","accessionNumberPrefix":"W","accessionYear":1974,"otherNumbers":[],"copyNumber":"","aspects":["WHOLE","Key","Music stand","Box of fragments","Harpsichord","Fragments"],"assets":["2019LN6539","2019LN7668","2019LN7325","2019LU6595","2019LV2849","2019LW4004","2019LV9038","2021MY2838","2021MY2839","2023NK9589","2023NK9955"],"recordModificationDate":"2025-11-28","recordCreationDate":"2002-11-28","availableToBook":false}}