Viola
Maker
Frantz Straub
Date1690 ca.
Place MadeFriedenweiler, Baden-Württemberg, Germany, Europe
Serial No.none
SignedPrinted on lined paper label with year written in black ink: Fecit Sebaſtian Wagner, / Hofmuſicus in Mörsburg 1759Written in black ink on paper label: Correctum et Revisum per me / Joannes Valentianus 1795
Written in black ink on paper label with cut corners glued to top block: New Neck and fgbd. / Andrew Dipper . / MPLS. 11. 2000 .
MarkingsNone
DescriptionThis viola is made in the tradition of the Alemannic school, a seventeenth century tradtion of makers located in the Black Forest. They feature decorative inlays and archaic construction techniques.
Top: two-piece, quarter-cut spruce: fine grain
Back: one-piece, quarter-cut maple: narrow curl descending from treble to bass; maple pins through back into top block, through button into neck heel, and through back into bottom block; later maple button cap
Ribs: quarter-cut maple: narrow curl; one-piece lower rib; cut corners
Head and neck: maple: faint, narrow curl; first turn of scroll volute deeply recessed from pegbox; narrow purfling inlaid around ouside edges of side of pegbox; later, made by Andrew Dipper, 2000
Arching: very high and full
Decoration: heart and geometric knot inlay at edges of each bout of top contiguous with purlfing; heart and knot geometric inlay in upper bout of back descending from purfling edge at top
Varnish: dark red-brown
Fingerboard: boxwood with narrow geometric knots and heart purlfing inlay; short; decoratively cut lower end; tapered; notche at neck heel position; channeled over neck position, later, made by Andrew Dipper, 2000
Nut: ebony; later, made by Andrew Dipper, 2000
Tailpiece: boxwood with narrow geometric knots and heart purlfing inlay; tailgut passes through holes drilled in face; later, made by Andrew Dipper, 2000
Tailgut: silver wire; later
Pegs: fruitwood; undercut heads; integral eyes; later, made by Andrew Dipper, 2000
Saddle: ebony; extends into lower rib; later
Endpin: fruitwood with decoratively turned head: later, made by Andrew Dipper, 2000
F-holes: long; strongly curved wings; undercut
Linings: spruce
Corner blocks: spruce
Top block: spruce; later
Bottom block: spruce; later
Bassbar: spruce; later
DimensionsTotal viola length: 673 mm
Back length: 418 mm
Upper bout width: 199 mm
Center bout width: 129 mm
Lower bout width: 230 mm
Upper rib height: 32-35 mm
Center rib height: 34-36 mm
Lower rib height: 35-36 mm
Stop length: 219 mm
Vibrating string length: 366 mm
Neck length (bottom of nut to ribs): 146 mm
ProvenancePresumably owned in 1947 by Jack Rubenstein, New York, to whom R.R. Wurlitzer addressed his certificate. Purchased on behalf of the National Music Museum by Claire Givens, Minneapolis, at Sotheby's auction, Chicago, 6 October 2000, lot 79.
Published ReferencesJohn Koster, “From the Land of Cuckoo Clocks . . . Distinctive, Decorated 17th- Century Viola Acquired!,” America’s Shrine to Music Museum Newsletter 28, No. 1 (February 2001), pp. 1-2.
Credit LineBoard of Trustees, 2000
Object number09962
On View
Not on view
