Main Menu

Cabinet Organ

Skip to main content
Collections Menu
Image Not Available for Cabinet Organ
Cabinet Organ
Image Not Available for Cabinet Organ

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
On View
Toledo Museum of Art (2445 Monroe Street), Gallery, 24
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.).

Membership

Become a TMA member today

Support TMA

Help support the TMA mission