3-009-029 - The Print Collector/Heritage Images

The International Exhibition: pianoforte by Messrs. Allison, of Wardour-street, 1862. '...a very beautiful...tall cottage or semi-cabinet piano, elaborately carved in unpolished oak. The design - the style of which is partly Elizabethan, though of the time of Charles I. - is emblematical and illustrative of Music. The keyboard is supported by figures of angels kneeling, playing upon the harp. The sides...are panelled, and contain busts of the most celebrated musicians mentioned in Scripture...and medallion portraits of the great composers...The upper part of the front is supported on each side by figures of angels with harps, surmounting figures holding scrolls of music, containing the first notes of the "Gloria in Excelsis." The centre is divided into three panels by carved semi-detached pillars, supporting circular arches...The panels of the front are all richly carved. In the centre one is the figure of St. Cecilia playing upon a hand-organ; and in the side panels are angels...with the inscription, "Gloria in excelsis Deo, et in terra pax." In the spandrils of the two side compartments are carved in full relief the principal English birds of song...The cornice is perforated as much for lightness as to allow the escape of the sound'. From "Illustrated London News", 1862.