Untitled
Sebastien Erard (1752 - 1831)
Category
Furniture
Date
circa 1818 (purchased)
Materials
Maple, pine, beech, paint, gilt, ormolu, brass, iron, damask
Place of origin
London
Order this imageCollection
Attingham Park, Shropshire
NT 608181
Summary
A blue-japanned and gilt-highlighted music or harp stool [NT 608181.1] and a matching duet stand [NT 608181.2], English, circa 1818, made by Sébastien Erard (1752 - 1831) of London. Both now green japanned but probably originally they were blue but have discoloured over time. The stool upholstered in original cream damask.
Full description
This stool and duet stand were purchased in 1818 at the same time as Thomas Noel Hill, 2nd Baron Berwick (1770 - 1832) purchased a harp from the firm of Sébastien Erard (1752 - 1831) for his wife Sophia (née Dubouchet), 2nd Lady Berwick (d. 1875). A bill dated 27th May (or Aug?) 1818 records the purchase of 'a patent double movement harp elegantly ornamented' for the sum of £168. 'A musick stool to correspond' cost £10 10s; 'a musick stand' cost £9 9s. Sophia was having harp lessons at the time from the fashionable musician and harp teacher from France, Robert Nicolas-Charles Bochsa (1789 - 1856). (Megan Wheeler, 2017)
Provenance
Purchased in 1818 by Thomas Noel Hill, 2nd Baron Berwick (1770 - 1832) from the firm of Sébastien Erard (1752 - 1831). Listed in the Inventory taken at Attingham Park in 1861 (p. 102), the Inventory taken there in 1913 (p. 78), the 1947 Probate Inventory (p. 31) and the Inventory taken c. 1953 (p. 31, no. 19). When listed in the Inventory of 1913, the stool [NT 608181.1] was recorded with a 'trimmed velvet cover for the same' which was recorded then as being 'burnt and stained'. Thence by descent, and transferred to the National Trust from HM Treasury in 1976.
Marks and inscriptions
No11D (painted in red under leg)
Makers and roles
Sebastien Erard (1752 - 1831), musical instrument maker