Explore

Showing results

Hide images

Rectangular virginals

The case, drop front, and domed lid are of oak, undecorated on the outside. The fancy hinges and hasps are of iron. Within is the decoration typical of the seventeenth-century English virginal. The lid and drop-front bear paintings showing peasants hay-making and gentry promenading. The interior of the virginals and the front are decorated with embossed and gilded paper. There are borders and small panels of painted scrollwork.

  • Date:
    1642 (made)
  • Maker:
    Thomas White [Corporation]
  • Collection:
    Victoria and Albert Museum
  • Inventory number:
    Loading...
  • Place of production:
    London
  • Culture:
  • Period:
  • Materials:Joined oak case and spruce soundboard with cedar moulding; soundboard and insides of both lids painted; gilt embossed paper decoration above and at sides of keyboard; gilt leather rosette
  • Specific materials/techniques:
  • Decorative elements:
  • Inscriptions:Thomas White fecit 1642 Thomas White made [this] in 1642
  • Hornbostel-Sachs category:
  • Repository:Victoria and Albert Museum
  • Measurements:Length: 165.4 cm, Width: 52.3 cm, Height: 52.5 cm, Weight: 23 kg whole