Violin
Date1630 ca.
Place MadeBrescia, Italy, Europe
Serial No.none
Signedno labelDescriptionThis violin is of an unknown maker, perhaps the same person who made the violoncello NMM 3372, with similar f-holes and corners.
Top: three-piece, quarter-cut spruce: fine, wavy grain; wing on lower treble bout; knot in upper treble bout; filled flaw in top, upper treble edge, under purfling; one pin and two pin holes through top into bottom block; pins through top into upper corner blocks
Back: two-piece, quarter-cut maple: faint, medium curl descending from center joint; two filled pin holes through back into top block, one on each side of joint; three pin holes through button into neck heel, one on each side of joint and one through joint, later
Ribs: quarter-cut maple: faint, medium curl, angled to right on bass side, angled to left on treble side
Arching: high in center bouts
Purfling: wide; set in far from edge
Varnish: medium orange-brown
Fingerboard: spruce veneered with ebony; underside near end stained black; wedge-shaped; notch at neck position
Tailpiece: maple veneered with ebony; edges stained black
Tailgut: red gut
Saddle: ivory; flush with top
Endpin: zizyphus; decoratively turned rings
Linings: spruce; thick
Corner blocks: spruce; small
Top block: willow or poplar; later
Bottom block: willow or poplar
Bassbar: later
Other: burn mark on inside of top
DimensionsTotal violin length: 589 mm
Stop length: 195 mm
Vibrating string length: 325 mm
Neck length (bottom of nut to ribs): 119.7 mm (original); 127.3 (current)
Top length: 354 mm
Top upper bout width: 159 mm
Top center bout width: 108.6 mm
Top lower bout width: 202 mm
Back length: 356 mm
Back upper bout width: 158.7 mm
Back center bout width: 109.3 mm
Back lower bout width: 201 mm
Upper rib height: 27.5-28.5 mm
Center rib height: 27.6-28.4 mm
Lower rib height: 27.2-28.3 mm
ProvenanceFrom the Bisiach Collection, Venegono Superiore, Italy, acquired from the heirs by Laurence Witten, 1968.
Purchased by the National Music Museum from Laurence Witten family, New Haven, Connecticut, 1984.
Published ReferencesGreg Dean Petersen, "Bridge location on the early Italian violin," Early Music 35, No. 1 (February 2007), pp. 49-64.
Credit LineWitten-Rawlins Collection, 1984
Object number03363
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