Music Stool

CultureAmerican
Titles
  • Music Stool
Datec. 1810–1815
Made inNew York, New York, United States
MediumMahogany; linen webbing, horsehair, and steel
Dimensions20 3/8 × 14 1/4 × 14 1/4 in. (51.8 × 36.2 × 36.2 cm)
Credit LineThe Bayou Bend Collection, funded by various donors in memory of Michael K. Brown
Object numberB.2014.7
Current Location
Bayou Bend Collection and Gardens
Music Room
Exposé

Explore Further

Department
Bayou Bend
Object Type
Description

About 1709, the piano (an abbreviation of pianoforte) was developed in Florence, Italy. In the mid-1700s, the Italian invention was adapted to the clavichord case, creating the square piano. Pianos were introduced to New York in the 1770s, and by the 1790s, twenty-one instrument-making firms were active in the city. The popularity of the piano during the first half of the 19th century led to the rapid expansion of New York’s instrument-making trade. By the late 1820s, it rivaled shipbuilding, sugar refining, metal working, and furniture making as one of the largest industries in the city. 

Made in New York, this music stool, although not a mate, accompanies the square piano in Bayou Bend (B.57.4). The upholstered circular seat above a pedestal sits on four out-splayed, waterleaf-carved legs with paw feet. In 1810, a group of New York craftsmen published a price book listing the furniture forms they made along with suggested retail prices and included “A Round Music Stool.”


ProvenancePrivate collection, Providence, Rhode Island; purchased by [unknown picker, New England]; purchased by [Carswell Rush Berlin, New York]; purchased by MFAH, 2014.
Inscriptions, Signatures and Marks
White printed label under seat: 215-61672 Item 32 / CARSWELL BERLIN / 1 STOOL WITH GOLD FABRIC

Cataloguing data may change with further research.

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