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Shop sign in the shape of a harp

Grosjean (19th century)
19th century
Object Place: London, England

Medium/Technique Wood
Dimensions 46 x 33.5 x 2 cm (18 1/8 x 13 3/16 x 13/16 in.)
Credit Line Leslie Lindsey Mason Collection
Accession Number17.1790
NOT ON VIEW
ClassificationsMusical instrumentsAccessories

DescriptionMute instrument with sixteen 'strings,' used as a shop sign. The frame of maple, painted black with gold vine and leaves. Four long strings, each of which is fastened to a hitch-pin and passed over three small pulleys making four shorts strings; four tightening pegs of boxwood.
InscriptionsStencilled at top of pillar: F. GROSJEAN, / 11 / SOHO SQUARE / LONDON [NB: this is mostly illegible, but the reading is derived from a similar example belonging to Tony Bingham of London]
ProvenanceFrancis W. Galpin (1858-1945), Hatfield Regis, England; 1916, sold by Francis W. Galpin to William Lindsey (1858-1922), Boston, Massachusetts; 1916, gift of William Lindsey, in memory of his daughter, Leslie Lindsey Mason, to the MFA. (Accession Date: October 5, 1916)