Freddie's Chinoiserie Grand Piano

By repute Freddie acquired this piano in New York in the Spring of 1977.

There are extant photographs of Freddie seated at this instrument, notably at Stafford Terrace in the late 70s. Several of these atmospheric shots were taken by Didi Zill (b.1938) for the German magazine Bravo in 1978. After Stafford Terrace the piano moved to Garden Lodge and was placed in the bay window as the centrepiece of the Japanese room.

John Broadwood & Sons is one of the most significant producers of pianos and keyboard instruments in British history, having continually held the Royal Warrant since the reign of George II. When the firm was founded in 1728, it was under the name of the Swiss harpsichord-maker Burkat Shudi; it acquired its current name after his son-in-law, the Scottish cabinetmaker John Broadwood, took over the company in 1773.

Broadwood & Sons were at the forefront of the shift in taste from the harpsichord to the more complex pianoforte and continued to innovate with the mechanisms and construction of its pianos throughout the 19th century. Beethoven owned a six-octave Broadwood piano and Chopin also played on Broadwoods when performing in Britain. The Royal Family have patronized Broadwood & Sons for centuries, and one of the numerous Broadwoods in the Royal Collection can currently be seen in the Music Room of Buckingham Palace.

The distinctive use of Japanning (which adds a heavy lacquer finish) on Freddie’s Broadwood also links to a history of fine decoration on the firm’s pianos, which was usually in step with the prevailing aesthetic trends in furniture design. By the 1920s, Broadwood had incorporated significant revivalist and historicist elements into its decoration, harnessing the general uptake in interest for English antiques among collectors and decorators of the inter-war period. Some Broadwood pianos of the period feature the fluting and swags that are the signature of Robert Adam’s late 18th-century neoclassicism. In contrast, a 1924 miniature piano for Queen Mary’s dollhouse incorporates vernis martin panelling and a giltwood stand with claw-and-ball feet, both of which clearly gesture to furniture of the earlier 18th century. The whimsical Japanned decoration on this piece imitates prestigious Japanese lacquer of late 17th- and early 18thcentury furniture: something craftsman had done ever since encountering this beguiling material as the craze for all things Chinoiserie swept across 18th-century Europe.

This piano’s Japanned decoration is highly rare for a Broadwood piece and Freddie is likely to have chosen the highly decorative item to complement his suite of furniture by S. Hille & Co. from a similar period.