Adam Music Room
Category
Dolls' houses and furnishings
Date
Unknown
Materials
Holly [ilex sp], Jasperware, Nylon
Measurements
360 mm (Height) x 510 mm (Depth); 760 mm (Length)
Order this imageCollection
Nunnington Hall, North Yorkshire
NT 979648
Summary
The examples in the Adam Music Room of Wedgwood Jasperware used here for wall plaques were made originally for brooches and the smaller ones let into the side tables for rings. Japanese models of native instruments are arranged in the alcoves. The instruments are working models, the violins, viola and 'cello can be bowed to produce sounds of a sort. If the spinet is opened and the notes played, you can see the strings being plucked with the correct mechanism. The harp made by the craftsman who created the workshops, is a faithful copy of a Grecian 5-octave original. For the 44 strings made of sewing gut and nylon, 176 minute holes were drilled. The frame is made of holly, the only wood that would stand up to the stresses of work on this scale His research for making this model harp led J W Thomas to become one of the country's three professional harp makers.