Occasion, Richard Lipp & Son, Autre

Arts and Crafts style, Lipp grand piano for sale with a mahogany case inlaid with symbols and designs from Germanic folklore. Case features ornate brass hinges and slatted cross stretcher. Piano has an eighty-five note keyboard and a two-pedal piano lyre. Piano is restored. The mahogany cabinet is polished in matt to emphasize the quality of the wood used. Cabinet features a simple geometric cross stretcher supporting the simple gate legs. The Lipp name is inlaid in a simple serif font. It is flanked by inlaid Norse symbols. The fylfot symbol, a four legged cross, is associated with fire and lightning and is holy to Thor.

The music desk is in a simple openwork design with cut-out slats. In the centre is an inlaid circle with central cross. A Norse symbol, this suggests the sun wheel, one of the oldest spiritual symbols of the Germanic people. The central cross separates the circle into four pieces, just like the seasons in a year. It is representative of life, fertility and peace.

The Arts and Crafts period championed the simplicity of form and the construction of the object. Here, the brass hinges are accentuated with two-tone brass and stamped geometric designs. Here the hinges, often hidden in modern furniture, are a strong element of the piano's design. The hinges are large and stamped with a circular design. Returning to Norse mythology, this symbol depicts the nine worlds, a symbol of Norse cosmology. In Norse cosmology the universe is divided into three realms; The Upper Realm - made up of Asgard, Vanaheim and Alfheim, Middle Earth - made up of the ocean, Jotunheim and Svartalfheim, and The Land of the Dead - made up of Niflheim, Muspelheim and Hel. Further down the piano hinge is a criss-cross design which could also be symbolic of the Web of Wyrd which contains all the shapes of the runes in a matrix.

The Arts and Crafts Movement was an international design movement that flourished between 1880 and 1910. The movement stood for traditional craftsmanship using simple forms and often applied medieval, romantic or folk styles of decoration. It advocated economic and social reform and has been said to be essentially anti-industrial. It sought to reassert the importance of design and craftsmanship in all the arts in the face of increasing industrialization, which they felt was sacrificing quality in the pursuit of quantity. Arts and Crafts objects were simple in form, without superfluous or excessive decoration, and how they were constructed was often still visible. They tended to emphasize the qualities of the materials used. The movement was successful in raising the status of the craftsman and promoting respect for native materials and traditions.