Glassichord
late 18th–early 19th century
Medium
pine, glass, bone, brass, leather, felt
Dimensions
68cm x 49.5cm x 77.5cm
Classification
Idiophone-Struck-bar-glass
Culture
Austrian?
Department
Musical Instruments
Museum
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY
Credit
The Crosby Brown Collection of Musical Instruments, 1889
Accession Number
89.4.2854
Art Historical Context
Step into the late 18th- to early 19th-century world of musical innovation with the *Glassichord*, crafted by Austrian maker F J Lendel. This rare idiophone, classified as a struck-bar glass instrument, belongs to the Metropolitan Museum of Art's renowned Crosby Brown Collection of Musical Instruments, acquired in 1889. Measuring 68 x 49.5 x 77.5 cm, it exemplifies the era's fascination with glass as a sound-producing medium, bridging craftsmanship and acoustics during the Enlightenment's experimental spirit. Constructed from an eclectic array of materials—pine for the body, glass bars for vi...