Photograph by Ed Pollard, Canon EOS 5D Mark II digital slr-2012.

Grand Harmonicon

Artist Francis Hopkinson Smith (American, 1797 - 1872)

Manufacturer Unknown

CultureAmerican

Dateca. 1820

MediumMahogany | Blown glass

DimensionsOverall: 37 x 21 1/2 x 36 in. (94 x 54.6 x 91.4 cm)

Credit LineGift of Mrs. C. Frederic Lyman in memory of Mrs. John Tabb.

Object number78.395

On View

Chrysler Museum of Art, Gallery 116-3

DescriptionRectangular shaped case veneered with mahogany. The top quarter of the case raises to reveal 24 blown glasses. The inside cover is veneered with a broad band of stain wood. Case is supported at the rear by two plain tapering round columns with doric caps. The front support is in the form of a lyre with simulated strings of inlaid light wood and the top finials are in the form of eagle heads turned away from each other. The shaped base is raised on round feet with leaf caps at the rear and animal paw feet at the front with acanthus leaf decorations. Also known as: Glaspiel, Harmonica, Armonica, Hydrodaktylopsychicharmonica.

Label Text Exhibition HistoryGlass galleries, 2006-2012Published References"Rare Musical Instrument Over Century Old, Owned by Gloucester Resident," unknown newspaper, unknown date. Howell Walker, "History Keeps House in Virginia," _National Geographic_, April 1956, 441-483. Jonny Farrow, "Psycho Sounds and Pseudo Science," in _The Glass Theater: Phantom,_ co-produced by Kim Harty and Charlotte Potter (Norfolk, VA: Chrysler Museum Glass Studio, 2013) 6-7.