SOREN JENSEN BUTTERFLY GRAND PIANO
with a maple case, ornately carved music desk and bronze nude, caryatid legs
A 1918, Søren Jensen model D butterfly grand piano with a polished, maple case. The gilt music desk is in an openwork, scrolling design featuring flowers, shells and swags. Piano sits on three square, tapered legs with bronze female nude, caryatids adorning the top. The piano lyre features gilted, carved detail of foliage and berries. The pedals are in a spiral design. Carved, gilt, filgree panels featuring shells, foliage and scrolls adorn the piano cheeks. Cabinet features hand-painted ovals by Danish artist Gudmund Hentze. In the first oval a fair haired maiden, vested in blue with a golden belt holds a dagger aloft. In the second oval a man flees a crowd of gnomes with a barrow filled with gold, urged on by a seated woman. In the third oval a nurse snoozes in a chair next to a cot as as babies are stolen. In the fourth oval a seated maiden offers a scarlet clad man a golden cup. In the fifth oval the scarlet clad man flees at night with a golden cup across a river as nymphs grab his limbs to slow him down.
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Price: £POA GBP
Piano Details
- Ref: 2810
- Brand: Soren Jensen
- Serial Number: 5411
- Age: 1918
- Wood: Maple
- Finish: Polished
Gudmund Herman Peter Hentze
(June 1, 1875 – May 6, 1948) was a Danish symbolist and national romantic painter, graphic designer, designer, and illustrator. Hentze was born in Næstved, When he was nine years old, the family moved to Copenhagen. He attended the Royal Danish Academy of Fine Arts from 1893 to 1894 and Zahrtmanns Skole 1897-1898. In 1893-1894 he was part of the movement around the journal Taarnet, which advocated symbolism in art, primarily literature led by the author Johannes Jørgensen. Hentze illustrated many books, including J.P. Jacobsen's novel Fru Marie Grubbe and fairy tales by Hans.C. Andersen. His illustratorship resembled that of his colleague Lorenz Frølichs, but where he was inspired by German and French artists, Hentze was primarily stylistically inspired by the English prerafaelites and Aubrey Beardsley. His artworks often depict ideal naked female figures in a historical or mythological landscape.
Søren Jensen
Søren Jensen 16.07.1865 - 1.2.1939. Manufactured pianos in Copenhagen between 1893 - 1918. He co-founded the Danish Piano Manufacturers Association in 1895, and later became its chairman from 1903 to 1911. He served an apprenticeship in 1879 and in 1884 travelled to Copenhagen. To further his education, in 1888 he travelled around Europe to Berlin, Dresden, Hamburg and Paris. Piano Manufacturer In 1893 he established himself as a piano manufacturer. The 5600m2 building in northern Copenhagen was built in 1905/06 to open his piano factory. From modest beginnings, employing only two men in the workshop, he built the company up to be one of the largest in Scandinavia. He participated eagerly in the exhibitions and his instruments won recognition from authorities such as J.P.E. Hartmann, August Winding and Gottfred Matthison-Hansen. He built a variety of pianos aimed at various price ranges. He constructed the very popular 'Daniaflygel', Dania grand piano, and an upright described as the 'National Piano', intended as a cheap alternative to German imports. He used artists and architects such as N.V. Dorph, Gudmund Hentze and Valdemar Andersen to decorate the instruments. He advocated decorative paintings reminiscent of those found on early harpsichords and clavichords and loved gilded decoration. He found ordinary grand pianos too furniture-like and wanted a free hand to shape and embellish an instrument. The results were certainly different from those of his peers.
