This is the earliest surviving piano

"It's completely intuitive; it's very responsive; it's incredibly intimate."

"It's completely intuitive; it's very responsive; it's incredibly intimate."

Curator Bradley Strauchen-Scherer on the Grand Piano by Bartolomeo Cristofori, the inventor of the piano.

Explore this object:
https://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/501788

Throughout 2013, The Met invited curators from across the Museum to each talk about one artwork that changed the way they see the world.

Photography by Joseph Coscia, Jr.

Rights & Permissions
"Les Cyclopes" by Jean-Philippe Rameau; Elaine Comparone, harpsichord; David Barnes, recording engineer; Steve Jambeck, videographer; A Harpsichord Unlimited Production. Copyright 2009
Grand Piano by Bartolomeo Cristofori (89.4.1219) played by Cristofori Dongsok Shin at The Metropolitan Museum of Art on May 13, 2013."The Entertainer" by Scott Joplin, Courtesy Shout! Factory
Performance of Giga of Sonata number 6 in B flat major by Lodovico Guistini (1685-1743) by Dongsok Shin at The Metropolitan Museum of Art on May 13, 2013.
Production support was provided by The Donna and Marvin Schwartz Foundation

Subscribe for new content from The Met: https://www.youtube.com/user/metmuseum?sub_confirmation=1

#TheMet #ArtExplained #Art


Contributors

Bradley Strauchen-Scherer
Associate Curator, Department of Musical Instruments

A small wooden carved box featuring figures and a tree in relief.
The author of After Sappho offers a queer feminist reading of Eve and the serpent, reimagining sin as likeness, desire, and bodies transcending gender and species.
Selby Wynn Schwartz
January 9
A close-up detail of a painted face rendered in muted green, blue, and gray tones.
Author Leena Krohn reflects on Helene Schjerfbeck’s portrait of Sigrid Nyberg.
Leena Krohn
December 18, 2025
In a dim museum gallery, an artist stands at an easel painting a large portrait on canvas, holding a palette. Framed portraits hang on the dark wall behind them. Bold yellow text over the scene reads ‘THE MUSEUM AS MUSE.’
Video
Artists Alex Katz and Wangechi Mutu explore works in The Met collection.
December 10, 2025
More in:Art ExplainedMusicInspiration

A slider containing 1 items.
Press the down key to skip to the last item.
Grand Piano, Bartolomeo Cristofori  Italian, Cypress, boxwood, paint, leather, fir, Italian (Florence)
Bartolomeo Cristofori
1720