Portfolio
Instruments
The decorative tradition of the instrument maker extends far beyond the harpsichord.
Adrian Card applies his knowledge of historical ornament and pigments to a wide range of musical instruments beyond the harpsichord. Virginals, spinets, guitars, violins, and other period instruments each carry their own decorative language — a grammar of curves, gilding, and painted ornament that Adrian interprets with care and historical fidelity.
Projects
Instruments
Poggio Virginals →
A decorated virginals in the Italiantradition, with painted interior landscape and ornamental casework.
Instruments
Sri Yantra Panharmonium →
A microtonal instrument decorated with a Tibetan Thangka mandala, using only period-authentic pigments.
Instruments
Hamilton Reed Organ →
Original pipe colors determined from surviving paint fragments and faithfully recreated.
Instruments
Mason & Risch Vocalion Reed Organ →
Ornamental pipe painting for an 1891 reed organ, now in the Presbyterian Church, Redmond, Oregon.
Instruments
William Blake's "Ancient of Days" Guitar →
Blake's iconic image of Urizen with his compass, painted directly on the spruce soundboard.
Instruments
"Hapsburg" Guitar →
Ornament adapted from 17th-century Spanish textile designs, executed in white and yellow gold leaf.
Instruments
Violin with Grotesques →
Italianate grotesque ornament commissioned by Philharmonia Baroque Orchestra for their Florentine Splendor auction.
Instruments
Jugendstil Violin →
A violin decorated in the spirit of Viennese Art Nouveau, drawing on Jugendstil and the Wiener Werkstätte.