Estimate

2.500 - 3.000

Session 1

13 October 2020

Hammer Price

Description

Walnut and other black painted timbers
Vernis Martin decoration of oriental figures
Inner polychrome decoration with flower garlands, musical trophies and a Boucher style landscape
Striated shaft column, crowned by carved and gilt floral ornaments
France, ca.1780
(strings missing, minor losses and faults)

Height: 160 cm

Category

Objects

Additional Information

The “Golden Age” of harp in 18th century France evolves largely due to the preference Queen Marie Antoinette (1755-1793) demonstrated for this musical instrument. Beyond being a talented harpist, she had herself depicted in a formal court setting playing the harp. Such is the case in the famous painting by Jean-Baptiste André Gaurier d’Agoty (1740-1786), dated 1775, in which the queen is portrayed playing for a restrict number of courtiers.
By the 1780s the harp had become the instrument that all aristocratic and wealthy ladies had to learn how to play, as was so clearly put by Charles-Simon Favart (1710-1792) “La harpe est aujourd’hui l’instrument á la mode; toutes les dames ont la fureur d’en jouer” . Such allusions can be clearly observed in the self-portrait of Rose-Adélaïde Ducreux (1761-1802) in which the painter and musicologist, depicts herself playing a very similar instrument to the one we are presenting for sale.
Amongst the French court harp suppliers, one particularly stood out; Jean-Henri Naderman (1734-1799) who would become renown for the instruments he built and decorated with fine quality sculptures, subtle gilding and sophisticated lacquered surfaces. One of the most famous harp makers in 18th century Paris, he had opened his business in 1770 at Rue d’Argenteuil and, eight years later, in 1778, he was already producing instruments for Queen Marie Antoinette. In 1787 he moves to new premises at Rue Richelieu.
Mentioned and highly praised in the memoirs written for the Academie des Sciences et Beaux Arts (signed by Méhul, Bonec, Charles e Prony, in April 17th, 1805), Naderman’s harps are fairly considered to be the best of their age, both in terms of construction and mechanism.
Jointly with the composer and harpist J.B. Krumpholtz (1742-1790), he succeeded in improving the simple action pedal harp (the pedal mechanism available to the player, whose function was the tuning of all strings of one pitch-class).
Harps produced by Jean-Henri Naderman, with similarities to the one we are bringing to sale, can be seen in various major museums, such as the Palace of Versailles, the Victoria & Albert Museum in London, the Musée de la Musique and the Musée Carnavalet both in Paris, the Museu da Música in Lisbon and the Met in New York.

Literature:
Wenonah Milton, Govea - Nineteenth and twentieth-century harpists: a bio-critical sourcebook. Greenwood Publishing Group, 1995, p. 207.