Edward and Georgiana Burne-Jones were given the instrument by his aunt as a wedding present in 1860, and its simple design enabled the artist to paint the surface with the themes mentioned above. In her biography The Memorials of Edward Burne-Jones, Lady Burne-Jones wrote "On the panel beneath the keyboard there is a gilded and lacquered picture of Death, veiled and crowned, standing outside the gate of a garden where a number of girls, unconscious of his approach are resting and listening to music".

UPRIGHT PIANO, English, about 1860. Inscribed on the nameboard, F.Priestly, 15 Berners Street, Oxford Street; painted by Sir Edward Burne-Jones, with scenes from the "Chant d'Amour" inside the keyboard and Death and the Maidens on the lower half of the instrument. The instrument has a compass of eighty-two notes, CC - a4, with keys covered in ivory and the sharps in ebony. The body is of lacquered American walnut. Museum No.: W.43-1926 Keyboard Catalogue No.: 51 Edward and Georgina Burne-Jones were given the instrument by his aunt in 1860, and its simple design enabled the artist to paint the surface with the themes mentioned above. In her biography The Memorials of Edward Burne-Jones, Lady Burne-Jones wrote "On the panel beneath the keyboard there is a gilded and lacquered picture of Death, veiled and crowned, standing outside the gate of a garden where a number of girls, unconscious of his approach are resting and listening to music". Presented by Mrs J.W.Mackail. (pre September 2000).

The pen and ink drawing deals with the transience of life and beauty. The figures are recognizable as the four MacDonald sisters and Jane Morris. There are indications in this work of 1859, of a number of subjects that arise in his later work, the group of seated maidens as they re-occur on the Priestly piano anticipate The Hours c. 1868 and 1870-83, the maiden with her head resting on her friend's lap is a motif that occurs in a number of drawings in the early 1870s, and musicians can be seen frequently throughout his oeuvre. It is significant that in the language of flowers, Sunflowers represent false riches (Henry Phillips - Floral Emblems 1825) and are here an early appearance of the artist's favourite flower, which he used symbolically a number of times in subsequent works. At this date they would have appealed carrying this message, to his religious high Church sentiments, later they took on an additional aesthetic quality.

On the top board is painted in white, dating from c.1864, the first incarnation of the Chant D'Amour. As Gerogiana was the only player, it must be assumed that the message was for her. When the composition re-appeared 18 months later the message was now directed at his new enamorata Maria. Maria is known to be the model for the maiden in the first version of Chant D'Amour 1865 and it also appears in the book that she rests her hands on in the portrait that Burne-Jones painted of her in 1870. (Clemens Sels Museum, Neuss)