Grand Piano by Erard/Blake

This piano, featuring an extraordinary marquetry satinwood case designed by George Henry Blake, is one of the most elaborately decorated instruments of the nineteenth century. It was commissioned from the London branch of the distinguished French firm of Érard by Thomas Henry Foley, Baron of Kidderminster, for Witley Court, his residence near Herefordshire and Worcestershire.The keyboard compass is CC-g4 (80 keys) with ivory naturals and ebony accidentals. There are two marquetried wood pedals, the left for the una corda and the right for the dampers. The instrument has the double-escapement action invented by Sébastian Érard and refined by his nephew Pierre, the most advanced for its period and the basis for the modern piano action. The instrument is triple strungexcept for the five lowest notes which each have two overwound bass strings. The strings for the top 26 notes pass beneath a pierced brass bar, Pierre Érards "harmonic bar" patented in 1838. The open-bottom wooden case is reinforced by longitudinal steel bars. 

Credit: Met Museum