Russell Collection of Early
Keyboard Instruments

HS7-JK1769.19: Single-manual harpsichord, Jacob Kirkman.
London, 1769.

PLEASE NOTE: This datasheet is incomplete.

Signature: "Jacobus Kirckman,Londini Fecit 1769" written in pen and ink on sycamore panel in nameboard.

Rose: Initials: IK. Diameter: 69.5 Location: 229 (centre to spine), 223 (centre to gap)

Scantlings:
 

Element	Length	Height	Thickness*	Wood
Spine:	2192	278-282**	22.5	Oak & Walnut veneer
Cheek:	606*	274	22.2-22.6**	Oak & Walnut veneer
Bentside:	1677	272-279**	19.4-21.5**	Oak & Walnut veneer
Tail:	264	281	22.4	Oak & Walnut veneer
Baseboard:	---	---	14.4-16.4**	spruce

Case width at the gap: Inside: 883; outside: 926 Soundboard/wrestplank to top of the case: 58
Nameboard thickness: 16.5

Keyboard:
Compass: F₁, G₁ to f³, 60 notes
3-octave span: 485
Total width of keyboard at the natural fronts: 833.5

Disposition:
 

	Plucking Direction	Pitch
Back Row:		8'
Front Row:		8'

There is no buff stop. Pedal operated by left foot cancels front register when depressed.

Stop lever arrangement:

back 8'	front 8'

Note: The arrow direction indicates the position which engages the register.

Scalings:
 

Short 8'			Long 8'
	String Length	Plucking Point	String Length	Plucking Point
f³	127.5	71	132	55
c³	165	80	173	63
f²	247.5	93	256.5	76
c²	335.5	102	347.5	84.5
f¹	502	113	525	93
c¹	677	124	701	107
f	957	139	984	123
c	1165	152	1192	135
F	1442	172	1461	156
C	1620	186	1637	171
F	1743	206	1750	189

Width of the string band from the 8' Long F₁ to the 8' Short f³: 812.

Nut string-gauge markings:

8'
4 - c² to f³
5 - c¹ to b¹
6 - f to b
7 - c to f
8 - F to c
9 - D to F
10 - B1 to C
11 - A1 to B1
12 - G1 to G1
13 - F1

Keyboard Pin dimensions:

Element	Balance pins	Front guide pins
Diameter:	3.1	3.5
Height:	~24.5	19
Material:	brass	brass

Pin dimensions:

Element	Bridge pins	Nut pins	Hitchpins	Back-pins	Tuning pins
8':
Diameter:	1.3	1.3	1.9	1.6	5.2
Height:	3	2.5	~5.0	4.6	~42
Material:	brass	brass	brass	brass	iron

Total length of the tuning pins: 8': 59
The 8' bridge was originally back-pinned from F₁ to b inclusive; the 4' bridge would not have been back-pinned.

Bridge and nut dimensions:

Soundboard wood quality:
Maximum number of rings per 2.5 cms near . Minimum number of rings per 2.5 cms near .

Materials:

Decoration:
The appearance of the instrument is that of a normal eighteenth-century English harpsichord. The outside of the case is decorated with fielded panels of mahogany veneer surrounded with narrow parquetry stringing and walnut bands. The inside of the case above the keys (the keywell) is decorated with burr walnut veneer with satinwood stringing and walnut bands, with the signature on a satinwood lozenge on a burr walnut background. The keys have natural touchplates in ivory with ebony sharps and moulded sycamore arcades. There are lacquered brass 'S'-shaped hooks on the cheek and bentside for holding the lid closed and fine lacquered brass strap-hinges on the lid and lid flap. The stop levers in the keywell are also of lacquered brass, and all of this hardware is certainly original. The stand is of solid mahogany with moulded legs and stretchers. The instrument is in remarkably good condition and there is little sign of even minor damage to any of the case, hardware or stand. There is also virtually none of the usual case twisting caused normally by the instrument having once been strung with thick strings heavier than those intended by the maker. The soundboard is decorated with a gilt brass rosette incorporating an angel (St Cecilia?) playing the harp and the Latin initials 'IK' of the maker.

Biography of Jacob Kirckman, b. Bischweiler, Switzerland, 1710; d. 9 June, 1792.
Jacob Kirkman was an Alsatian of Swiss extraction who moved to London a few years before 1738. The family name was originally Kirchmann and this was anglicised to Kirckman and then, although his instruments are always signed Kirckman, he used the form Kirkman when he himself signed documents in the period after he became naturalised in 1755. When Kirckman arrived in England he apprenticed under the Flemish-born harpsichord maker Hermann Tabel and became Tabel's foreman. Charles Burney writes amusingly about how "Kirchmann worked with the celebrated Tabel as his foreman and finisher till the time of his death [in 1738]. Soon after which . . . Kirchmann married his master's widow, by which prudent measure he became possessed of all Tabel's seasoned wood, tools and stock-in-trade . . .". Kirckman seems to have divided his time among harpsichord building, money lending and dealing in property. Whatever else he did to occupy his time he was certainly one of the most prolific and one of the finest makers in the history of harpsichord making. Indeed there are probably more surviving harpsichords and spinets by Kirckman than by any other maker of the historical period.

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