1. A 5-voet Muselar based on the 1640 Joannes Ruckers in the Haags Gemeentemuseum in the Hague and an earlier instrument dated 1604 by Andreas and Joannes Ruckers in the Brussels Museum
(5-voet) Length: 56˝”(143.5) x width: 19”(48.3) x depth: 8˝”(21.7) x height: 35˝”(90.2)
2. A 6-voet ‘Mother and Child’ Muselar based on two instruments by Ioannes Ruckers; a 1600 in Milan and a 1611 in the Vleeshuis Museum in Antwerp.
(6-voet) Length: 67˝”(171.2) x width: 19˝”(49.3) x depth: 9˝”(24.1) x height: 37”(94)
The keyboard compass of both of the Virginals is C/E-C3, 47 notes with a short octave in the bass. The pitch is set at a=415hz and the keyboard cannot be transposed. The leather topped register is cut directly into the spruce soundboard and is fixed in place.
The casework is poplar with poplar frames. The soundboard is Swiss pine or German spruce. The natural keys are topped with bone and the accidentals are of ‘Bog’ oak. The jacks, bridges and nuts are in European beech.
The case is painted in a trompe l’oeil, faux marble finish. Soundboards have a small cast lead rose with the soundboard paintings executed by Olga Tomlinson K. Handprinted ‘seahorse’ papers adorn the front board and keywell with border papers surrounding the soundboards. The inside of the lid and fallboard are decorated with ‘wood-grain’ papers, Latin mottos and swirling arabesques. The keyboard arcades are embossed in a trellis pattern. The elaborate oak stand is a series of arches, drops and spindles.
