Sébastien Erard Harp Restoration Period 19th

Sébastien Érard born Sebastian Erhard in Strasbourg in Alsace on April 5, 1752 and died in Passy on August 5, 1831, was a French piano, harp and harpsichord maker, maker to the king, until the Revolution. Harp signed Sébastien ERARD ** from the end of the Empire Period, early 19th century in wood and stucco for the sculpted parts. Painted console and case, gilded and lacquered fluted column topped with a capital decorated with three ram's heads. Base with claw feet, palmettes and 43-string model (the first double-movement harps had 42 strings), 8 pedals and 5 leaves. The double-movement was invented by Sébastien ERARD in 1810. It bears the inscriptions Sebastien ERARD'S followed by different English inscriptions on each side of the console "London" and "Patent 534 18 Great Marlborough Sreet", under the base stamped number which may correspond to an inventory number (His manual skill in working with wood was remarkable, he Acquired in his father's cabinetmaker workshop in Strasbourg. On the death of his father and at the age of 16 he moved to Paris. At the age of 20 he set up his workshop in the Hotel de la Duchesse de Villeroy where he designed his first harpsichord (1772) recognized as having a quality superior to any other of his time. He was well introduced into the world of the Aristocracy which was scrambling for its instruments, he built several for the Queen of France Marie Antoinette and had the support of King Louis XVI who granted him a Patent in 1785. He joined forces with his brother Jean-Baptiste and founded the Maison ERARD. In 1789 he fled the Revolution and settled in London. He only returned to France in 1815 without ceasing to maintain privileged links with the English Aristocracy. He presented to the Academy of Fine Arts his double movement mechanism which he had invented in 1810 and which remains the reference to this day. the Harp needs to be restored