A two-manual harpsichord by Andreas Ruckers, Antwerp, 1614, ...

Hammer

£180,000

A two-manual harpsichord by Andreas Ruckers, Antwerp, 1614, the mahogany case with boxwood stringing and figured mahogany crossbanding, shaped and engraved brass strap hinges, the fascia board and cheeks with gilt scrollwork on a brown ground, the four and a half octave keyboard AA to e3, with ivory naturals and ebony accidentals, four brass-knobbed handstops controlling two 8-foot stops and one 4-foot stop on the lower manual and one 8-foot and a lute stop on the upper manual, also a foot pedal operating a machine stop, the soundboard painted with flowers, foliage and insects, and with inset rose pierced and carved with King David playing the harp flanked by the maker’s initials AR, blue arabesques around the edges and the bridges, the interior case edges decorated with printed paper, the interior of the lid painted with an extensive landscape with a city on a hill and figures around a carriage in the foreground and a shepherd attending his sheep, on trestle stand. Inscribed on the name baton Andreas Ruckers me fecit Antwerpiæ, length 228.4cm, width 80.5cm, with canvas cover
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*Recorded by Grant O’Brien in Ruckers, A Harpsichord and Virginal Building Tradition, pp 257-258
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**Dr O’Brien records that “This is a typical English eighteenth-century ravalement of a Ruckers harpsichord. The case was widened and the octave span narrowed to accommodate the extra notes. New keyboards, jacks and slides were made and the bridges and nuts were re-pinned and extended. The instrument is greatly over-restored. The spine and cheek, the internal framing, jacks and slides, and baseboard are all modern, as is the soundboard barring, with many stifle bars under the 8' bridge''.
The inside of the main lid depicts St Theresa’s home town of Avila in Spain with the cathedral that breaches the town battlements.” The lid painting had been attributed to van der Meulen (1632-90) but is now thought to be earlier, perhaps circa 1620 and by an anonymous artist. The instrument is accompanied by An account of the restoration of the lid painting carried out between January 2007 and April 2008 by Ann and Peter Mactaggart
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***Also accompanying the lot is correspondence relating to restoration work undertaken on the keyboard by Hug & Co. Basel in 1964
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****Provenance - Dr. Blow, Bath; Rev. John Bower, Bath; General Hopkinson, J. Kendrich Pyne and Boddington College, Manchester;  Howard Head, London: WC Priestly, Messrs. Angell, Bath; and Leonard Elmhirst, Dartington Hall, Devon. Sold in Sotheby’s rooms on 10 November 2004, lot 267
for £106,988

*****This piano has been officially registered with 
GOV.UK Reference WLQWG4ZR

More Information

Restored to playing order by David Leigh following its purchase at Sotheby's.