Bass viola da gamba

Alternate name(s)

Bass viol

Date1584

Place MadeLondon, England, Europe

SignedWritten in black ink on paper with lined texture: John [Rose] / 1584DescriptionTwo makers named John Rose, a father and son, worked in Bridewell, London, in the 16th century. This instrument was likely made by the second of these, though the last name of the maker is somewhat unclear on the label. Rose enjoyed a high national and international reputation in his lifetime and after, and Queen Elizabeth I gifted a bandora made by him to the Tollemache family.

This instrument is plainer in decoration than some other surviving instruments by Rose, and has a back and sides made from a dark wood, either yew or fruitwood. It is very large, but lightly built, with a thin top and no linings originally.

Fewer than ten instruments by or attributed to Rose survive, and given his importance to the development of the English viol, these truly are instruments of exquisite cultural heritage. This instrument was formerly in the collection of James Caldwell and Catherina Meints, and the story of its acquisition by them, along with a recording of it, can be enjoyed here: http://ftp.baroqueflute.com/musicwordmedia/0009/01.html

Top: five-piece, quarter-cut spruce or fir: medium grain; bent arching
Back: two-piece, slab-cut yew or fruitwood: irregular curl; flat with break in upper bouts
Ribs: quarter-cut yew or fruitwood
Head: fruitwood: flat sides with affixed abstract decoratively carved flowers
Neck: plum; made by Andrew Dipper, 2021-22
Edging: no scooping
Purfling: double, each line a single piece of black-stained wood
Varnish: dark brown; top originally light, stained by Michael Heale in 1979
Fingerboard: maple veneered in ebony with boxwood stringing; made by Michael Heale, 1979
Nut: bone or ivory
Tailpiece: maple veneered in ebony with boxwood stringing; made by Michael Heale, 1979
Pegs: sapodila wood from Yucatan; made by Andrew Dipper in 2022 from a images of original 17th century English viol pegs supplied by Benjamin Hebbert
Hookbar: ebony
F-holes: C-shaped
Linings: none originally; plates originally glued and bound to ribs with gut ligatures
Top block: spruce; two nails through top block into neck
Braces: one wide brace at center bout

DimensionsLength of body: 710 mm
Total bass viola da gamba length: 1014 mm
Back length: mm to end of button; mm to upper rib
Upper bout width: 343 mm
Center bout width: 238 mm
Lower bout width: 410 mm
Upper rib height: 70-131 mm
Center rib height: 130-132 mm
Lower rib height: 132-135 mm
Stop length: mm
Vibrating string length: 706 mm
Neck length (bottom of nut to ribs): mm
Published ReferencesNMM catalog: _As Good as Gold: The First 50 Years (1973-2023)_. Vermillion, SD: National Music Museum, 2023. (pp. 79, 88-89)

Caldwell, Catharina Meints, with John Pringle and Thomas G. MacCracken. The Caldwell Collection of Viols: A Life Together in the Pursuit of Beauty. Hudson, NY: Custos, 2012.

Credit LineCaldwell Collection. Gift of Catharina Meints Caldwell, 2021

Object number15629

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