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Bonhams Hits The High Notes As Historic Spinet With Links To Pepys Sells For £45,600
The earliest surviving English spinet sold yesterday at Bonhams for £45,600 – over four times its pre-sale estimate. After a fierce bidding war the magnificent instrument was bought by an American private collector on the telephone. Made in 1668, by the well-known harpsichord maker Charles Haward, the instrument corresponds exactly to the spinet that Samuel Pepys describes having bought in his renowned diary. The instrument was sold at Bonhams New Bond Street salerooms in the Fine Musical Instruments sale on 10 March 2008.
Slightly smaller than a harpsichord, spinets became fashionable in the 1660s.
The first spinet is thought to have been made by an Italian artisan but Charles
Haward, a leading London harpsichord maker quickly followed suit. The instrument
is one of only six surviving spinets by Charles Haward and is apparently the earliest
known English spinet.
A similar instrument by Charles Haward dated 1689 can be found in the National
Music Museum at the University of South Dakota. The spinet sold by Bonhams is
inscribed with the words "CAROLUS HAWARD fecit" and has a walnut case,
with an oak stand.
THE DIARY OF SAMUEL PEPYS
On 4 April 1668, Samuel Pepys, who was passionately interested in music, describes having visited Haward at his workshop on 4 April 1668:
"To White Hall. Took Aldgate Street in my way, and there called upon one
Haward that makes virginals, and there did like of a little espinette, and will
have him finish it for me… for I had a mind to a small harpsichon, but this takes
up less room, and will do my business as to finding out chords, and I am well
pleased that I have found it"
Entries made later that year confirm that Pepys called on Haward again and that
he paid five pounds for the spinet, which was delivered to his house on 15 July
1668.
A naval administrator and prominent Member of Parliament, Samuel Pepys is most
famous for his detailed private diary, which he kept between 1660-1669. The diary
is one of the most important accounts of London in the 1660s and includes eyewitness
accounts of the restoration of the Monarchy, the Great Plague of London in 1665,
the Great Fire of London in 1666 and the arrival of the Dutch fleet in the Second
Anglo-Dutch War.
Further information and images Charlotte Wood +44 (0) 207 4688331 or email press@bonhams.com
NOTES FOR EDITORS
Bonhams, founded in 1793, is one of the world's oldest and largest auctioneers of fine art and antiques. The present company was formed by the merger in November 2001 of Bonhams & Brooks and Phillips Son and Neale UK. In August 2002, the company acquired Butterfields, the principal firm of auctioneers on the West Coast of America and in August 2003, Goodmans, a leading Australian fine art and antiques auctioneer with salerooms in Sydney, joined the Bonhams Group of Companies. Today, Bonhams offers more sales than any of its rivals, through two major salerooms in London: New Bond Street, and Knightsbridge, and a further seven throughout the UK. Sales are also held in San Francisco, Los Angeles, New York and Boston in the USA; and Switzerland, France, Monaco, Australia, Hong Kong and Dubai. Bonhams has a worldwide network of offices and regional representatives in 25 countries offering sales advice and valuation services in 57 specialist areas. (1st January 2008)
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