Pianoforte, bronze, mahogany wood

King Louis Napoleon ordered this sumptuous piano for his musical wife Hortense, who also played the harp and the harpsichord. It was intended for the concert hall at the Royal Palace in Amsterdam. The instrument was also a showpiece, made of many costly materials and decorated with gilt-bronze ornament (ormolu). When Louis Napoleon abdicated in 1810, he left the piano in the blue salon at the palace.