single manual, F1-f3 | 8’ 8’ 4’
Case with understated decoration, painted with trompe-l’oeil panels in shades of green. The lid interior has been painted in the same fashion. The instrument has been signed on the nameboard: ‘IOANNES PETRUS BULL ME FECIT ANTVERPI. ANNO 1779’. The soundboard has not been decorated. Rose with the initials ‘J P B’ (Joannes Petrus Bull). The underside of the rose bears the name ‘J C Kraekman’. In contrast to most other Antwerp harpsichords, the instrument’s tail has a curved (S-shaped) wall, a style particularly common in Germany. The lid is all one piece and not composed of two parts (lid and lid flap) as had been customary in Antwerp. A notable feature is a row of jacks that can be plucked in both directions: to the right for one 8’ string using a standard plectrum and to the left for the other 8’ string using a leather (peau-de-buffle) plectrum. The instrument has been equipped with three knobs and two knee levers, enabling the player to engage or disengage the different registers. The knee lever on the right caused a fabric-encased rod to descend to the end of the 8’ strings, muffling their sound as a result. The instrument was restored in 1972–3 (Hubert Bédard). Cornelis Bom implemented minor conservation measures in 1979. The original base plate is kept separately.
Provenance: Anonymous donation to the Museum of Antiquities (Het Steen) (between 1864 and 1876). Transferred to the Museum Vleeshuis c. 1952.
