λ A rare George III Irish upright square piano or Camerachord by William Southwell of Dublin

λ A rare George III Irish upright square piano or Camerachord by William Southwell of Dublin, the mahogany case with satinwood banding, the top with a Gothic fretwork gallery flanking a painted tablet with a cypher with a worn inscription and the number '22' above a geometric parquetry band and a hinged panel painted with musical trophies within a sunburst frame and an outer border of grapevines, peacock feathers and ribbon tied instruments, flanked by a pair of oval silk pleated panels, the base with two hinged compartments, one revealing the five and a half octave keyboard with ivory naturals and ebony accidentals with one pedal, the conforming stand on square tapering legs with an undertier and brass castors, 141.7cm high, 157cm wide, 46.5cm deep.

William Southwell (1736/7-1825) was an Anglo-Irish inventor and musical instrument maker whom made in particular very fine pianos for the nobility and the wealthy elite. He is most well known for the production of a demi-lune piano which when closed appeared as a very fashionable Adam style pier table. The above example is a rare upright square pianoforte, the design for this piano was patented in 1798. It is number '22' so this points it to being an early example made between 1798 and 1800. Only a small number of these pianos are known to exist, there is an example in the National Museum, Dublin and Ireland and there was one in the Finchcocks Musical Museum in Kent which closed in December 2015.

Our thanks to Margaret Debenham for help in researching this lot.