GRAND PIANOFORTE No. 13819, by Pleyel & Compagnie, Paris, 1848
Owned by Fryderyk Chopin

Chopin, who preferred Pleyel pianos above all others, chose this piano after he returned to Paris in November 1848, following a 7 month sojourn at Nohant, the country house of Georges Sand. It would seem to be the piano depicted in his salon at the Square d'Orléans in a lost watercolour of which a photograph survives. Chopin did not normally have to pay for his use of Pleyel pianos but as soon as he decided to bring it to England in April 1848, the Pleyel ledgers for 13819 record that the composer was billed 2000 francs for it. In letters Chopin referred to it as 'my own' instrument. On leaving London he sold the piano to a Scottish friend, Margaret Trotter and it remained with her Lindsay relatives until the late 1970s.