Unique Minature Broadwood 1796

Now in private ownership in England

- Original records of the history of this piano

Sold at the auction of Gardiner Houlgate in March 2015.

I hesitate to use the word 'unique', but I have never seen a miniature Broadwood like this, certainly not this early. The length is just 3' 3" (99.2 cm). The compass is F - a'', 3¼ octaves - approximately the range of normal human voices. There is no stand, but a large brass carrying handle at each end. The case is of mahogany, unusually including the spine, and the moulding and line-inlay continue all round

It is a genuine 1796 Broadwood beyond doubt, confirmed by the layout and detail, including the serial number 3295, the paper instruction label (in English and in French), the style and wording of the calligraphy (John Broadwood and Son), and the swept brass under-dampers.

Obviously some attention needed, but the soundboard and bridge are in very good condition.

Mary A Crawley? See Below.

But we are less sure about the flower painting - never used on Broadwoods originally as far as we know. The design is identical to that painted on Clementis and Rolfes, but not until about 1805. Also, the execution is not as good as the originals. So this decoration was almost certainly applied later. We do know that at some time after 1923 it was in the Broadwood Collection after their move to 158 New Bond Street, by courtesy of a donor.

The History of this Piano

Robert Simonson of the Surrey History Centre, the home of the Broadwood Archives, has very kindly undertaken diligent research into the history of this piano.

This detail from the 1796 ledger mentions, about half-way down, the sale of this piano for £10.10s (ten guineas) to Sir Peter Burrell, Privy Cousellor, former MP recently created Baron Gwydyr. He had a distinguished career in parliament and afterwards, and amongst other achievements he was one of the founders of the Marylebone Cricket Club (MCC) in 1787. Later, he was appointed Master of the Horse to the Prince of Wales (later George IV) .

Fast forward to the account of a Mrs G Crawley of Aldington Suffolk, moving to Cadogan Square London SW, where we read in the entry for 14 Jan 1914 of a spinet and a 'toy pf' being moved. Peter Bavington has very kindly contributed further research. 'Mary A Crawley' (see below) surely refers to Mary Alice Crawley (1870 - 1964) the wife of George A Crawley, (1864 - 1926) designer and architect. The ledger page is headed 'Mrs G Crawley' - until comparatively recently it was customary to refer to married women by their husband's Christian name. The couple were friends of the Dolmetsch family, and they also owned instruments by Henry Tull.

Robert has spent many hours studying these books, and as he has never encountered anything similar, we may conclude that it is indeed unique - a 'one off' - almost certainly made specially for Sir Peter Burrell, perhaps for one of his children.

He has futher observed that when any of Broadwood's pianos was given any kind of embellishment, such as 'Cyphers' or 'Trophies of Music' this was noted in the records, so we may indeed by confident that the flowers were added at a later date.

Our special thanks to Robert for this splendid piece of research.