List of Keyboards 

Original pedal now missing. One hand stop now missing.  No knee levers

Concord Museum Collection, Gift of Cummings E. Davis; F1311.  Image Courtesy of the Concord Museum

Technical description: Mahogany case, veneered on front, inlaid with plain decorative stringing; matching frame with 4 square tapered legs on casters. At the top of eac leg is a small metal medallion; on left side is lidded compartment for strings and tools; hand-forged tuning pins; prop stick for lid; no music desk. The keyboard has 60 keys (FF-f3, no FF#). Ivory topped naturals with bone tails, stained hardwood accidentals. Double-strung throughout; gauge numbers 8-14; bass strings overspun with no gauge numbers. English single action with pewter underdampers, mahogany hammer shanks with small heads. 3 pedals originally, now missing: dampers, mute, hinged swell  Credit Met Museum

Owned and played by Robert Louis Stevenson, Samoa, 1891

Powerhouse Collection. Purchased 1961. Photograph Marinco Kojdanovski.

Technical description: Square piano mahogany veneer case with black inlaid striping, curved nameboard veneered with satinwood, inlaid oval nameplate, ornate gilt carrying handles at ends, table stand with 4 square, tapered legs; unpierced tuning pins; ivory naturals with molded key fronts, ebony accidentals, inoperable knee lever, possibly to raise dampers by lifting rear of key levers, compass C-f4 (66 keys); English double action, intermediate lever with no escapement; wires connected to backs of key levers pass through hitchpin rail and bear small cloth-padded dampers; single strung throughout, bottom 6 notes wound; key levers d#3-f4 extend beneath soundboard, hammers strike through opening at rear edge of soundboard. Credit (L. Libin 4 Aug 76.)

In the late 18th and early 19th centuries, it was mainly Austria, England, Germany and France that were leaders in piano building. The Netherlands played a less important role in it. Still there were about 25 builders who mainly made square pianos after English examples. Some of them like Meincke and Pieter Meyer, Joannes van Raay and Corneille Van der Does also made Pyramide and Giraffe pianos inspired by Viennese models. A very fine example of Van der Does craftmanship is a Luxurious giraffe piano in the Victoria & Albert museum in London. The square piano in the Chris Maene Collection is another example of Dutch piano building at its very best.

Provenance: donation from family Wouter Scheurwater ( restorer of historical keyboard instruments at the Gemeentemuseum of the Hague NL.)

Technical data:

• Inscription: Van der Does, te Amsterdam

• Compass: 5,5 octaves (FF-c''')

• Keyboard: naturals in ivory, sharps in ebony

• Pedals: 3 lute, swell (a lid to the right side of the cover is being raised through the pedal), damper

• Dimensions: W 158 cm / D 60 cm

• Case: ombination of mahogany, Maplewood and brass mouldings

• Chris Maene Collection number: CM 76 140

• Condition: restored around 1993 by Wouter Scheurwater

• Location: 3 - Museum headquarters "Piano's Maene" Ruiselede

The Viennese builder Joseph Dohnal (I), born on November 20, 1759 in Nenakonice near Dub nad Moravou, died on December 30, 1829 in Vienna. In 1818, he handed over the business to his son of the same name

Credit: Andreas Praefcke Wikicommons

This upright piano was made by Jacob Doll in New York, New York around 1898-1901. Jacob Doll came to New York from his native Germany at the age of fourteen and found work in a wood-working company. In 1885 he established a piano making factory in New York. This piano has a compass of AAA-c5, standard upright action, felt hammers, single, double, and triple-strings, 3 pedals, one-piece cast-iron frame, cross-strung, and an ebonized case highly decorated with eagles at the top corners

Credit: Smithsonian

1 manual, C-c3, 8'8'. Rectangular case with recessed keyboard, 1230 (1244) mm wide, 345 (358) mm deep, 85 mm high. Base made of spruce, 18 mm thick. Sides made of spruce, veneered with wood of as yet undetermined origin, probably not olive wood as stated by Kinsky in 1910, with inlays of ivory and tortoiseshell; the blind wood is 11 mm thick, the veneer on the sides is 12.5 mm thick, with exposed finger joints; the body was veneered only after assembly, covering the finger joints; on the upper edge there is a moulded strip projecting inwards; the sides rest on the base. No lid. Bridge made of spruce, 11 mm thick, bent, without a soundhole. Running from the left-hand rear corner to the right-hand front corner in the direction of the strings, a stabilising strip of spruce, 34 mm wide and 18 mm high, is fitted to the bottom panel. The entire interior of the soundbox, with the exception of the underside of the soundboard, is sanded (coated with glue and sprinkled with a dense layer of fine sand). A small box to the left of the keyboard. Tuning pin block made of oak, 64 mm wide, 40 mm high, slanted. Attachment strip made of maple, 29 mm wide at the side wall and 10 mm wide at the treble end, starting 11 mm above the soundboard. Pegs in 4 rows. The number 6 is marked on the h1 key lever, the number 7 on c2; on other levers there may be remnants of wire numbers, but these are no longer legible.

Source: Hubert Henkel: Clavichords. Museum