A GEORGE III BRASS-MOUNTED WALNUT-CASED SINGLE MANUAL HARPSICHORD

Jacobus Kirckman (d.1792) of Broad Street, was born in 1710 near Strasbourg. Having trained as a cabinet-maker, he subsequently emigrated in the 1730s to England, where he worked for Hermann Tabel, a Flemish harpsichord maker. Appointed harpsichord maker to Queen Charlotte, he was considered the most famous and prolific harpsichord maker in the country. Having no children, he went into partnership with his nephew, Abraham Kirckman (d.1794) around 1770, and died at Greenwich in 1792.

A similar harpsichord by Jacobus Kirckman was recorded in the 1795 Inventory for Dumfries House, and thus was supplied to John, Viscount Mountstuart (d.1764); it was included in Christie's sale catalogue for Dumfries House in 2007 (vol II, lot 300). In1771, Kirckman executed a harpsichord for the sculptor John Bacon (d.1799), now in the Ashmolean Museum. Another, dated 1772, by both Jacobus and his nephew Abraham, was acquired by Cecilia, Countess of Strathmore.

A harpsichord by Jacobus Kirckman was sold at Gardiner Houlgate, Bath, The Christopher Hogwood Collection of Keyboard Instruments, 12 March 2015, for £28,000.