Christian Zell 1728
Harpsichord from the collection of music instruments at the “Museum für Kunst und Gewerbe”, Hamburg
The place of production of the original is the city of Hamburg.
The case of the harpsichord is decorated in an extremely rich way: the paintings inside are inspired by mythological episodes related to music, while the outer surfaces are covered with “Indian” lacquer .
Christian Zell was a pupil of Michael Mietke, from whom he learned the construction techniques. However, his instruments are substantially different, especially the dimension of the case gives the instrument a particularly harmonious, full and warm sound.
Together with Nuremberg’s “ Vater” and Berlin’s “Silbermann” this harpsichord forms a magnificent trio of German instruments that survived the time, are still playable and used in numerous concerts and recordings.
