Cabinet Organ

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Cabinet Organ

Artist Attributed to Johannes Strumphler (Dutch, 1736-1810)

Place of OriginNetherlands

Dateabout 1785

DimensionsH: 101 1/2 in.; W: 63 3/4 in.; Depth: 29 in.

MediumMahogany on oak, gilded bronze, ivory, ebony, and mother-of-pearl

ClassificationFurniture

Credit LinePurchased with funds from the Libbey Endowment, Gift of Edward Drummond Libbey

Object number

1965.175

Not on View

Label TextThis beautiful cabinet encloses a pipe organ with a range of four and a half octaves. The 300 pipes (some made of wood, some of metal) are grouped in six sets and supplied with air by a foot bellows. Music-making was an important aspect of leisure in a genteel home in the 1600s and 1700s. Though much cabinet organ music was simple and improvised, many of the era’s best composers wrote works for the instrument, including Johann Pachelbel (1653–1703), Johann Sebastian Bach (1685–1750), and Frideric Handel (1685–1759). Johannes Strumphler, the leading Dutch maker of cabinet organs in the 1700s, is believed to have built the organ, working in conjunction with a fine cabinetmaker.Exhibition HistoryToledo Museum of Art, Out of Sight, June 18-Aug. 29, 2010 (no cat.).