A Rare and Unusual English Regency Blue Glass Xylophone ‘Idiophone’ , Contained in the Original Mahogany Carrying Box

Object Description

A Rare and Unusual English Regency Blue Glass Xylophone ‘Idiophone’ Contained in the Original Mahogany Carrying Box
Produced by John Betts of Royal Exchange London
Wood, glass, felt, brass
Early 19th Century

SIZE: 7cm high, 48cm wide (max) 30.5cm deep (max) – 2¾ ins high, 19 ins wide (max) 12 ins deep (max)

Object History

PROVENANCE:
Ex Finch and Co London
Ex Private Belgian collection 2018
Ex Private collection

Object Literature

A similar example was sold through Christie’s, London in 2001 as part of the Humprey Whitbread Collection

Additional idiophones came into use from the Renaissance on. The xylophone, long widespread throughout Asia and Africa, was illustrated in 1529 by the composer and music theorist Martin Agricola. In 1618 Praetorius depicted an instrument with 15 bars from 15 to 53 cm (6 to 21 ins) in length, tuned diatonically. It remained little exploited until the Flemish carillonneurs combined it with a keyboard and transformed it into a practice instrument in the first half of the 17th century. The older form remained a folk instrument, chiefly in and east of Germany.

Object Details