Object Timeline

  • We acquired this object.

2013

  • Work on this object began.

2024

2025

Photograph, Crucible pouring for casting of Steinway piano plates

This is a Photograph. It was photographed by Christopher Payne and subject: Steinway and Sons and O.S. Kelly Foundry.

This object is not part of the Cooper Hewitt's permanent collection. It was able to spend time at the museum on loan from Christopher Payne as part of Made in America: The Industrial Photography of Christopher Payne.

It is dated 2013. Its medium is digital pigment print. It is a part of the Exhibitions department.


Molten iron is poured from the furnace into a crucible—a heat-resistant container designed to hold materials during high-temperature processes—and then into sand plate molds to create iron plates. The strings of a concert grand piano can exert up to 46,000 pounds of pressure. Without the plate, the piano would collapse in on itself.

Its dimensions are

H x W: 101.6 × 124.5 cm (40 × 49 in.) Not framed

There are restrictions for re-using this image. For more information, visit the Smithsonian’s Terms of Use page.

If you would like to cite this object in a Wikipedia article please use the following template:

<ref name=CH>{{cite web |url=https://www-6.collection.cooperhewitt.org/objects/2318812241/ |title=Photograph, Crucible pouring for casting of Steinway piano plates |author=Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum |accessdate=12 December 2025 |publisher=Smithsonian Institution}}</ref>