Musical Glasses
date: label: date made
content: 1800 - 1850
notes: label: Description
content: <p>This set of musical glasses was made by an unknown maker in the United States, around 1800-1850. This instrument, also known as a glass harp, is comprised of 24 upright wine glasses tuned to various pitches, set in a rosewood veneer box. It is played by running moistened or chalked fingers around the rim of the glasses. Tuning can be adjusted by adding water to the glasses. </p>
label: Description
content: <p>Musical glasses were popular in the 17th and 18th centuries. In 1761, Mrs. Ford [Ann Ford Thicknesse] published a pamphlet entitled: <i>Instructions for playing on the musical glasses : so that any person, who has the least knowledge of music, or a good ear, may be able to perform in a few days, if not in a few hours : with clear and proper directions how to provide a compleat set of well-tuned glasses at a very moderate expense.</i></p>
label: Location
content: Currently not on view
place: label: place made
content: United States
setName: label: See more items in
content: Culture and the Arts: Musical Instruments
label: See more items in
content: Percussion
label: See more items in
content: Music & Musical Instruments
creditLine: label: Credit Line
content: Gift of Hugo Worch
dataSource: label: Data Source
content: National Museum of American History
identifier: label: ID Number
content: MI.315752
label: accession number
content: 65928
label: catalog number
content: 315752
objectType: label: Object Name
content: musical glasses
physicalDescription: label: Physical Description
content: rosewood (overall material)
label: Physical Description
content: glass (overall material)
label: Measurements
content: overall: 35 3/4 in x 35 3/4 in x 21 1/8 in; 90.805 cm x 90.805 cm x 53.6575 cm