Single-Action Pedal Harp

Artist Georges Cousineau (French, 1733–about 1800)

Artist Jacques Georges Cousineau (French, 1760–1836)

Date1780s

Mediumwood, brass, animal gut strings

Dimensions169 × 35 × 66.5 cm (66 9/16 × 13 3/4 × 26 3/16 in.)

ClassificationsMusical Instruments

Credit LineGift of Mrs. Susan E. Reed Lawton

Object number1908.30

DescriptionPillar with carved scroll top decoration of spiraling egg and dart pattern in gold, atop sculpted palmette leaves with a strand of beads. Stylized leaf patterns fill three sections on the pillar, with larger palmette and acanthus near the rounded base. The back has nine staves of maple with a decorative scalloped veneer overlay and three rectangular soundholes. Knee-block with acanthus carved and gilded. The painted neck decoration is not original, but a later addition to mimic a Chinoiserie style of gold foliate designs on an ebonized background. The soundboard is similarly decorated with large vines of palm leaves and acanthus in gold (transfer?). Four metal claw feet. The harp is single-action with seven iron pedals and 38 strings.

The harp’s béquilles (crutches) mechanism was invented by Cousineau and his son and is unique to their instruments. Each pair of béquilles, or crutch-ended levers rotate, one turning clockwise and the other counterclockwise to pinch the string, raising the pitch a semitone without pulling the string out of line (a problem of the earlier crochet mechanism). The fretting point of the béquille mechanism is in a fixed position so the bridge pins are adjustable for regulation. The pedal rod springs are tensioned by ratchets in the mechanism inside the neck at the treble end. Some Cousineau harps have decorative brass plates with stenciled openings to reveal the unique mechanism (Horniman Museum, London).
ProvenanceMrs. Susan Reed-Lawton

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