Spinet by Thomas Barton c. 1720s

Stephen Keene was the most important maker of spinets in the late seventeenth and early eighteenth centuries.  Thomas Barton was baptised in 1685, and apprenticed to Keene for the usual seven years, presumably starting about 1699 at the age of fourteen.  He was granted Freedom of the Joiners' Company in August 1706, and thereafter able to sell instruments under his own name.  His earliest verifiable date is on a small 1709 harpsichord (now in the Mirrey Collection in Edinburgh) and his latest on a spinet of 1729.  He was dead by 1735.

This spinet is entirely what we would expect from a late instrument from the school of Stephen Keene, with the compass now a full five octaves chromatic.  The naural keys are ebony, and the sharps solid ivory.  The keyfronts are embossed paper, usual for early English spinets.

The date has unfortunately  been interfered with, as was often done to obscure the age of instruments, but it seems to be clear up to 172? .  A date in the 1720s is entirely reasonable, and my guess would be nearer 1720 than 1730.

The fine pierced brasswork is identical to that found on spinets by Keene, Blunt, and others from the school.

The estimate for this beautiful spinet is  £5,000  £7,000.

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© David Hackett