Images(4)

Violin

Alternate name(s)

Violin in style of hardingfele

Maker Knud H. Hougen

Date1895

Place MadeInwood, Iowa, United States, North America

ModelNorwegian Hardanger fiddle style

Serial No.21

SignedWritten in ink on blue-lined notebook paper label, visible through treble f-hole: No 21 / Knud K. Hougen / Inwood November 20 / 1895MarkingsnoneDescriptionIn form of hardingfele without sympathetic strings.

Body: asymmetrical outline; square shoulders
Top: one-piece, slab-cut maple: plain; arching rises abruptly from edges to flat central plain
Back: one-piece, slab-cut maple: plain; arching rises abruptly from edges to flat central plain; two wooden dowels through back into top block, 15 and 42 mm from edge; one wooden dowel through back into bottom block, 10 mm from edge
Ribs: maple: plain; one-piece lower rib
Head and neck: maple: plain; head terminates in lion-dragon with pointed, bone teeth, protruding tongue, and gold-painted crown and mane
Arching: rises abruptly from edges to flat central plain
Purfling: none
Edging: not scooped; edges of top and back terminate in a point at the outer surface
Decoration: two floral inked borders on top and back; floral inked borders on pegbox; ink decoration is under the varnish
Varnish: red-brown with craquelure
Fingerboard: black-stained maple; wedge-shaped; no curvature; finish worn from use
Nut: bone
Tailpiece: ebony, adapted from commercial tailpiece
Tailgut: steel wire, looped around notches cut in sawed-off commercial violin tailpiece
Pegs: three ebony with with mother-of-pearl eyes; one black-stained mahogany
Saddle: bone
Endpin: ebony; rectangular shape
F-holes: elongated; wings terminate in points; no notches; inside edges of f-holes up to 12 mm higher than outside edges; inside edges overlap outside edges
Linings: none
Corner blocks: small, possibly maple
Top block: shape elongated on edge glued to back; integral with neck
Bottom block: maple; rectangular
Bassbar: pine; extends the full length of top
Back brace: ridge carved from wood of back along center line
DimensionsTotal Violin length: 605 mm
Back length: 356 mm
Upper bout width: 155 mm
Center bout width: 108 mm
Lower bout width: 197 mm
Upper rib height: 26 mm
Center rib height: 26-27 mm
Lower rib height: 26-28 mm
Stop length: 189 mm
Vibrating string length: 318 mm
Neck length (nut to ribs): 125 mm
ProvenanceArne B. Larson Collection, Vermillion, South Dakota, 1979.
Published References“‘Shrine to Music’ At University Product of Founder’s Frugality,” Sioux Falls Argus Leader (April 28, 1968), 1B. See Publicity Archive, Vol. I, p. 6.

Credit LineArne B. Larson Collection, 1979

Object number01139

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