Live Auction 18377The Collector: Live
A FRENCH ORMOLU-MOUNTED KINGWOOD, BOIS SATINE, AND MAHOGANY MARQUETRY PIANO A QUEUE
Lot 268 PROPERTY OF A GENTLEMAN

A FRENCH ORMOLU-MOUNTED KINGWOOD, BOIS SATINE, AND MAHOGANY MARQUETRY PIANO A QUEUE

THE CASE BY ZWEINER , THE MOVEMENT BY ERARD, SERIAL NO. 77189, PARIS, CIRCA 1898

Closed12 November 2020

Price Realised

GBP 32,500

Considering selling a similar item?

Discover its value with a complimentary estimate from our specialists.

More Information

How to sell

A FRENCH ORMOLU-MOUNTED KINGWOOD, BOIS SATINE, AND MAHOGANY MARQUETRY PIANO A QUEUE
THE CASE BY ZWEINER , THE MOVEMENT BY ERARD, SERIAL NO. 77189, PARIS, CIRCA 1898
The case overall with a foliate border and quarter-veneered panels, the sides with bois de bout floral marquetry cartouches, the ivory keyboard cover similarly decorated and signed Erard/Paris, the inside of the case with burr maple veneer, on six cabriole legs headed by trailing foliage and tapering to hairy paw sabots, stencilled and stamped with the serial number '77189' and marked to the interior 'A.P.', the movement stencilled 'Par Brevet d'Invention/ Seb & Pre Erard/ 13&21 rue du Mail/ Paris', the mounts signed 'ZJ'
Closed: 40 in. (102 cm.) high, 54 in. (137 cm.) wide, 83 in. (211 cm.) long
Open: 69 ½ in. (176.5 cm.) high

Specialist note


This refined piano à queue is in the distinctive fin de siècle style of high-rococo which became synonymous with François Linke’s oeuvre from 1900 through the end of his career. Firms such as Zweiner and Linke most often fitted instruments with Erard movements. The present example appears in the company ledger in June 1898 as a ‘Piano à Queue N°1, style Louis XV en marqueterie de bois satiné de rose et de violette orné de bronzes ciselés dorés’. It was acquired the following month by Mme Mouchotte à Saint-Nandé.
A piano of the same model by Linke is illustrated in C. Payne, European Furniture of the 19th Century, Woodbridge, 2013, p. 142. Interesting, a nearly identical example with serial number 82141 was shipped to London to Mrs. S. and P. Erard, either for the piano-maker’s private residence or the company’s showroom (sold Christie's, New York, 19 April 2016, lot 57, $75,000).