Bentside spinet

John Harris American

On view at The Met Fifth Avenue in Gallery 774

Spinets were so rarely made in colonial America that in 1769, when this example was finished, the Boston Gazette reported: "A few days since was shipped for Newport, a very curious Spinnet, being the first ever made in America, the performance of the ingenious Mr. John Harris, of Boston (Son of the late Mr. Joseph Harris, of London, Harpsichord and Spinnet Maker), and in every respect does Honour to that Artist".

Bentside spinet, John Harris (active ca. 1730–69), Mahogany, mahogany veneer, white oak,
birch, maple, cherry, white cedar, white pine, American

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