TONY CHINNERY HARPSICHORDS

Carl Conrad Fleischer worked at Hamburg in the first half of the 18th century. This is one of his 3 remaining harpsichords. It is part of the collection, now a museum in Florence, of the English collector Frederick Stibbert. It has 3 registers 8,8,4', with a 4 octave chromatic range. Although the outside of the case has been re-decorated, the soundboard, keyboard and registers are well preserved, with some of the original jacks remaining. There is some indication that the instrument was playing in Stibbert's time (the second half of the 19th century) as the tuning pins are labelled with English style letters. Photo: the instrument with the baseboard removed

The soundboard during cleaning, showing the effect before and after. The flowers are painted in tempera on the bare wood.