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Violin bow

Makerattributed to Benjamin Banks

Date1770-1810 ca.

Place MadeEngland, Europe

Serial No.none

DescriptionThis bow has been slightly modernized with the addition of a gold slide on the ivory frog and gold tip plate. The hatchet-type head suggests the bow was made at the end of the eigtheenth or beginning of the nineteenth centuries.

Stick: round; pernambuco; underside of stick at frog position with guide grooves; uneven faceting at handle
Head: hatchet head; bulbous outline to leading edge; rounded outline to back edge; T-mortise
Handle: repaired with pink gold ring
Frog: ivory; decoratively cut back outline and grooves on back edge; later pink gold ferrule and slide; contemporaneous but not original to bow, as it was made for a bow with octagonal handle
Adjuster: bone
Tip plate: pink gold; later
Wrapping: black and gray baleen; later
Grip: brown reptile leather; later
Dimensions733 mm long
Stick length: 718 mm
Head height: 24.0 mm
Head width (bottom): 10.9 mm
Stick width near tip: 4.9 mm (top to bottom); 4.9 mm (side to side)
Stick width near middle: 7.1 mm (top to bottom); 8.0 mm (side to side)
Stick width at end of handle: 7.8 mm (top to bottom); 7.6 mm (side to side)
Frog height: 19.7 mm (front); 15.4 mm (back)
Frog length (top): 45.6 mm
Frog length (bottom): 42.5 mm
Frog width (top): 8.1 mm (front); 8.5 mm (back)
Frog width (bottom): 12.1 mm (front); 11.5 mm (back)
Weight: 59.9 grams

ProvenanceWitten acquired from E. M. W. Paul, London, 1962.

Credit LineWitten-Rawlins Collection, 1984

Object number03446

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