Skip Navigation

Collection Menu
Smith & Co.. <em>Convertible Bed in Form of Upright Piano</em>, ca. 1885. Ebonized woods, metal, 55 1/2 x 54 3/4 x 27 in. (141 x 139.1 x 68.6 cm). Brooklyn Museum, Gift of Elinor Merrell, 86.176. Creative Commons-BY (Photo: Brooklyn Museum, 86.176_closed_bw.jpg)
Smith & Co.. Convertible Bed in Form of Upright Piano, ca. 1885. Ebonized woods, metal, 55 1/2 x 54 3/4 x 27 in. (141 x 139.1 x 68.6 cm). Brooklyn Museum, Gift of Elinor Merrell, 86.176. Creative Commons-BY (Photo: Brooklyn Museum, 86.176_closed_bw.jpg)
Smith & Co.. <em>Convertible Bed in Form of Upright Piano</em>, ca. 1885. Ebonized woods, metal, 55 1/2 x 54 3/4 x 27 in. (141 x 139.1 x 68.6 cm). Brooklyn Museum, Gift of Elinor Merrell, 86.176. Creative Commons-BY (Photo: Brooklyn Museum, 86.176_closed_bw.jpg)

Smith & Co.. Convertible Bed in Form of Upright Piano, ca. 1885. Ebonized woods, metal, 55 1/2 x 54 3/4 x 27 in. (141 x 139.1 x 68.6 cm). Brooklyn Museum, Gift of Elinor Merrell, 86.176. Creative Commons-BY (Photo: Brooklyn Museum, 86.176_closed_bw.jpg)

Smith & Co.. <em>Convertible Bed in Form of Upright Piano</em>, ca. 1885. Ebonized woods, metal, 55 1/2 x 54 3/4 x 27 in. (141 x 139.1 x 68.6 cm). Brooklyn Museum, Gift of Elinor Merrell, 86.176. Creative Commons-BY (Photo: Brooklyn Museum, 86.176_mark_bw.jpg)

Smith & Co.. Convertible Bed in Form of Upright Piano, ca. 1885. Ebonized woods, metal, 55 1/2 x 54 3/4 x 27 in. (141 x 139.1 x 68.6 cm). Brooklyn Museum, Gift of Elinor Merrell, 86.176. Creative Commons-BY (Photo: Brooklyn Museum, 86.176_mark_bw.jpg)

Smith & Co.. <em>Convertible Bed in Form of Upright Piano</em>, ca. 1885. Ebonized woods, metal, 55 1/2 x 54 3/4 x 27 in. (141 x 139.1 x 68.6 cm). Brooklyn Museum, Gift of Elinor Merrell, 86.176. Creative Commons-BY (Photo: Brooklyn Museum, 86.176_open_bw.jpg)

Smith & Co.. Convertible Bed in Form of Upright Piano, ca. 1885. Ebonized woods, metal, 55 1/2 x 54 3/4 x 27 in. (141 x 139.1 x 68.6 cm). Brooklyn Museum, Gift of Elinor Merrell, 86.176. Creative Commons-BY (Photo: Brooklyn Museum, 86.176_open_bw.jpg)

Smith & Co.. <em>Convertible Bed in Form of Upright Piano</em>, ca. 1885. Ebonized woods, metal, 55 1/2 x 54 3/4 x 27 in. (141 x 139.1 x 68.6 cm). Brooklyn Museum, Gift of Elinor Merrell, 86.176. Creative Commons-BY (Photo: Brooklyn Museum, 86.176_threequarter_bw.jpg)

Smith & Co.. Convertible Bed in Form of Upright Piano, ca. 1885. Ebonized woods, metal, 55 1/2 x 54 3/4 x 27 in. (141 x 139.1 x 68.6 cm). Brooklyn Museum, Gift of Elinor Merrell, 86.176. Creative Commons-BY (Photo: Brooklyn Museum, 86.176_threequarter_bw.jpg)

Smith & Co.. <em>Convertible Bed in Form of Upright Piano</em>, ca. 1885. Ebonized woods, metal, 55 1/2 x 54 3/4 x 27 in. (141 x 139.1 x 68.6 cm). Brooklyn Museum, Gift of Elinor Merrell, 86.176. Creative Commons-BY (Photo: Brooklyn Museum, 86.176.jpg)

Smith & Co.. Convertible Bed in Form of Upright Piano, ca. 1885. Ebonized woods, metal, 55 1/2 x 54 3/4 x 27 in. (141 x 139.1 x 68.6 cm). Brooklyn Museum, Gift of Elinor Merrell, 86.176. Creative Commons-BY (Photo: Brooklyn Museum, 86.176.jpg)

Smith & Co.. <em>Convertible Bed in Form of Upright Piano</em>, ca. 1885. Ebonized woods, metal, 55 1/2 x 54 3/4 x 27 in. (141 x 139.1 x 68.6 cm). Brooklyn Museum, Gift of Elinor Merrell, 86.176. Creative Commons-BY (Photo: Brooklyn Museum, 86.176_transp2835.jpg)

Smith & Co.. Convertible Bed in Form of Upright Piano, ca. 1885. Ebonized woods, metal, 55 1/2 x 54 3/4 x 27 in. (141 x 139.1 x 68.6 cm). Brooklyn Museum, Gift of Elinor Merrell, 86.176. Creative Commons-BY (Photo: Brooklyn Museum, 86.176_transp2835.jpg)

Smith & Co.. <em>Convertible Bed in Form of Upright Piano</em>, ca. 1885. Ebonized woods, metal, 55 1/2 x 54 3/4 x 27 in. (141 x 139.1 x 68.6 cm). Brooklyn Museum, Gift of Elinor Merrell, 86.176. Creative Commons-BY (Photo: Brooklyn Museum, 86.176_bw.jpg)

Smith & Co.. Convertible Bed in Form of Upright Piano, ca. 1885. Ebonized woods, metal, 55 1/2 x 54 3/4 x 27 in. (141 x 139.1 x 68.6 cm). Brooklyn Museum, Gift of Elinor Merrell, 86.176. Creative Commons-BY (Photo: Brooklyn Museum, 86.176_bw.jpg)

Smith & Co.. <em>Convertible Bed in Form of Upright Piano</em>, ca. 1885. Ebonized woods, metal, 55 1/2 x 54 3/4 x 27 in. (141 x 139.1 x 68.6 cm). Brooklyn Museum, Gift of Elinor Merrell, 86.176. Creative Commons-BY (Photo: Brooklyn Museum, CUR.86.176_mark_bw.jpg)

Smith & Co.. Convertible Bed in Form of Upright Piano, ca. 1885. Ebonized woods, metal, 55 1/2 x 54 3/4 x 27 in. (141 x 139.1 x 68.6 cm). Brooklyn Museum, Gift of Elinor Merrell, 86.176. Creative Commons-BY (Photo: Brooklyn Museum, CUR.86.176_mark_bw.jpg)

Smith & Co.. <em>Convertible Bed in Form of Upright Piano</em>, ca. 1885. Ebonized woods, metal, 55 1/2 x 54 3/4 x 27 in. (141 x 139.1 x 68.6 cm). Brooklyn Museum, Gift of Elinor Merrell, 86.176. Creative Commons-BY (Photo: Brooklyn Museum, CUR.86.176_interior_bw.jpg)

Smith & Co.. Convertible Bed in Form of Upright Piano, ca. 1885. Ebonized woods, metal, 55 1/2 x 54 3/4 x 27 in. (141 x 139.1 x 68.6 cm). Brooklyn Museum, Gift of Elinor Merrell, 86.176. Creative Commons-BY (Photo: Brooklyn Museum, CUR.86.176_interior_bw.jpg)

DOWNLOAD

Convertible Bed in Form of Upright Piano

Smith & Co.

Decorative Arts

The piano was an important element of the parlor in the United States in the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. It was a focus of family life and attested to the social aspirations of the owner. The consumer of this convertible piano-bed could, in a way, have his cake and eat it too--enjoying the propriety that a piano conferred on his parlor while gaining a reasonably comfortable sleeping unit for a large family living in limited space. The amusing idea of sleeping in a piano (or a fancy parlor cabinet, in the case of the parlor bedstead) must have been part of the furniture's appeal.

ARTIST Smith & Co.
MEDIUM Ebonized woods, metal
  • Place Manufactured: Boston, Massachusetts, United States
    • DATES ca. 1885
    DIMENSIONS 55 1/2 x 54 3/4 x 27 in. (141 x 139.1 x 68.6 cm)  (show scale)
    MARKINGS On back, stamped: "5734A"; stenciled: "SMITH & c." Two fragmentary paper labels [give directions on how to open and use bed; see files for full text]
    COLLECTIONS Decorative Arts
    ACCESSION NUMBER 86.176
    CREDIT LINE Gift of Elinor Merrell
    CATALOGUE DESCRIPTION Convertible bed in form of upright piano. When closed: Rectangular case with paneled sides; front has paneled lower section with 2 pedals and on each side of case, s-scrolled brackets support sham keyboard. Above keyboard is central music rest of framed, fan-shaped fretwork, flanked by two panels of fretwork of palmettes and scrollwork. Lid hinges open and front of "piano" hinges at base to open to bed with mesh and wire support for mattress. CONDITION: Finish discolored and "whitish" throughout. Proper right lower support for scroll bracket is loose. Minor cracks and separation in flanking fretwork panels on front.
    MUSEUM LOCATION This item is not on view
    CAPTION Smith & Co.. Convertible Bed in Form of Upright Piano, ca. 1885. Ebonized woods, metal, 55 1/2 x 54 3/4 x 27 in. (141 x 139.1 x 68.6 cm). Brooklyn Museum, Gift of Elinor Merrell, 86.176. Creative Commons-BY (Photo: Brooklyn Museum, 86.176_closed_bw.jpg)
    IMAGE threequarter, closed, 86.176_closed_bw.jpg. Brooklyn Museum photograph
    "CUR" at the beginning of an image file name means that the image was created by a curatorial staff member. These study images may be digital point-and-shoot photographs, when we don\'t yet have high-quality studio photography, or they may be scans of older negatives, slides, or photographic prints, providing historical documentation of the object.
    RIGHTS STATEMENT Creative Commons-BY
    You may download and use Brooklyn Museum images of this three-dimensional work in accordance with a Creative Commons license. Fair use, as understood under the United States Copyright Act, may also apply. Please include caption information from this page and credit the Brooklyn Museum. If you need a high resolution file, please fill out our online application form (charges apply). For further information about copyright, we recommend resources at the United States Library of Congress, Cornell University, Copyright and Cultural Institutions: Guidelines for U.S. Libraries, Archives, and Museums, and Copyright Watch. For more information about the Museum's rights project, including how rights types are assigned, please see our blog posts on copyright. If you have any information regarding this work and rights to it, please contact copyright@brooklynmuseum.org.
    RECORD COMPLETENESS
    Not every record you will find here is complete. More information is available for some works than for others, and some entries have been updated more recently. Records are frequently reviewed and revised, and we welcome any additional information you might have.
    Smith & Co.. <em>Convertible Bed in Form of Upright Piano</em>, ca. 1885. Ebonized woods, metal, 55 1/2 x 54 3/4 x 27 in. (141 x 139.1 x 68.6 cm). Brooklyn Museum, Gift of Elinor Merrell, 86.176. Creative Commons-BY (Photo: Brooklyn Museum, 86.176_closed_bw.jpg)

    TAGS

    American furniture
    aspiration
    bed
    Boston
    dual purpose
    furniture
    genius
    good design
    invention
    late 19th century furniture
    music
    musical instrument
    patent
    space saver
    transformer
    upright piano
    wood

    TAGS

    American furniture
    aspiration
    bed
    Boston
    dual purpose
    furniture
    genius
    good design
    invention
    late 19th century furniture
    music
    musical instrument
    patent
    space saver
    transformer
    upright piano
    wood

    RELATED OBJECTS

    Lamp Lamp Plate Plate Plate Plate Basin Basin Plate Plate Top of Whistle (Nsiba) Upper Part of Sistrum Drum A Musician The Daughter of Herodias Dancing (Hérodiade dansant) Harp with Removable Pegs (Kundi) Tile Spandrel (One of Two) Incised Strombus-Shell Trumpet Wallkill Scenery Landscape with Bull Statue of Woman Drum Upper Part of a Sistrum with a Cat Figure of a Standing Male Tray Bee Tree, Seldens Neck, Connecticut Untitled Untitled [Untitled] (Design for Plate) [Untitled] (Design for Plate) Side Chair Dollhouse with Contents