Hendrik Richters (Dutch, Amsterdam 1683–1727 Amsterdam)
Ebony, ivory, silver
Height: 22 1/2 in. (57.2 cm) Diameter (Of bell): 2 3/8 in. (6 cm)
Aerophone-Reed Vibrated-double reed
Gift of The University Museum, University of Pennsylvania, 1953
Not on view
Hendrik Richters (1683–1727) is considered to be one of the finest oboe makers of his period. About 30 oboes survive from the shop he shared with his brother Frederik (1694–1770). Some, like this one, are lavishly decorated with expensive materials. The brothers used the state-of-art eighteenth-century technology to lathe the instrument's ornamental turnings. The metal keys, engraved with floral designs, musical and dancing figures, were fashioned by professional silversmiths or engravers. French instrument makers invented the oboe late in the seventeenth century by redesigning the treble shawm. In contrast to the loud shawm, the oboist takes the reed between the lips enabling the player to control the articulation, volume, pitch, and quality of sound. This permitted more expressivity, a musical trait of growing importance during this period. To enhance playing technique, two keys, the C and E-flat, were added to the oboe. Since some players were accustomed to play with the right hand down and others with the left hand the E-flat key appears on both the left and right side of the "swallow-tail" C key.
Marking: [on all sections]: H. RICHTERS/ (trefoil maker's mark)
University of Pennsylvania Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology
Jayson Kerr Dobney, Bradley Strauchen-Scherer. Musical Instruments: Highlights of the Metropolitan Museum of Art. First Printing. @2015 by the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York. New York, 2015, pp. 90-91, ill.
Ed. Katharine Baetjer. Watteau, Music, and Theater. Metropolitan Museum of Art. New York, 2009, pg. 136-137, fig. 61, ill.
4900 Historical Woodwind Instruments: An Inventory of 200 Makers in International Collections. Phillip T. Young. London, 1993, pg. 187.