A museum quality Parisian harp
The upper part of the corpus painted with fine floral garlands, the head and base with rocailles, foliage, flowers and gilding. With an illegible signature. The strings lost, two of the pins missing, only five of the seven pedals extant. The wood with shrinkage cracks, the veneer of the neck losse, one loose area to the knee. H 158, W 36, D 71 cm.
1770s / 1780s.
The young Marie-Antoinette, who came to Paris in 1770 as the bride of the heir to the French throne, was a harpist and set off a veritable fashion for the instrument. The most sought-after harp makers were Sébastien Erard, Georges Cousineau and Jean-Henri Naderman. All three worked closely with Jean Baptiste Krumpholtz, perhaps the greatest harpist of his time, to develop instruments. Marie Antoinette's own harp was also by Jean-Henri Nadermann and can today be viewed in Versailles. This harp is indistinctly signed (possibly later) and not dated, but it is equipped with crochets or right-angled hooks operated by foot pedals that raise the pitch of each string by a semitone, a popular device in this period and also used by Nadermann.
Jean-Henri Naderman was born in 1735, probably in the archdiocese of Paderborn, during the reign of Elector Clemens August. He emigrated to Paris in 1756, where he found an audience for his craft. Jean-Henri Nadermann's harps are today housed in many collections throughout the world, such as the Victoria and Albert Museum in London (acc. no. 4087-1857), The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, and the National Music Museum South Dakota.
Provenance
Spanish private collection.