Violoncello
Alternate name(s)
- Cello
- Basse de violon
- Bass violin
Maker
Andrea Amati
Date1536-1560 ca.
Place MadeCremona, Italy, Europe
Serial No.none
SignedPrinted on later paper label, the last three digitis of year written in black: Andreæ Amati Cremonensis / faciebat anno 1572MarkingsPainted in gold and black on sides: PIE K TATE ET IVSTI K CIA [piety and justice with K for Karolus on cente ribs]
Written in black ink on inside of back, near neck: Racomodè par [Sebastian] Renault luthier / rue Avoya No. 87 Paris 1801 [year underlined] (remodeled by [Sebastian] Renault, luthier, Avoya Street, No. 87, Paris 1801)
Written in black ink on small paper label visible through treble soundhole: P = 942
Branded on bridge toward fingeboard: HANS J. NEBEL
DescriptionThe "King" Amati cello was in its original form a much larger bass violin, a part of the Renaissance violin band. It has marks on the back suggesting that it was strapped to the player for standing and processional playing. The instrument is thought to date to the mid-sixteenth century, and has the earliest style of soundhole associated with Andrea Amati, which it has in common with the Sau Wing Lam Collection Amati viola. It was painted with the armorials of Charles IX of France (ruled 1560-1574) and later reduced in size. It bears a repair inscription by Sebastian Renault, the luthier and harp maker, dated 1801. This major restoration likely represents its current form.
Technical drawing available for purchase.
Top: six-piece, quarter-cut spruce: slightly wavy wide grain; wings at edges; later center section; hardwood pins through top into corner blocks
Back: four-piece maple cut off-the-quarter: faint, medium curl; wings at edges; three hardwood pins filing holes in lower treble bout with wear from a metal ring or chain in a circular pattern around them, from a means of supending the instrument while playing (a similar pin and markings can be seen in the lower bout of the Henry II viola, suggesting these instruments may have been used together); one hardwood pin in upper treble bout; later edging in upper bout
Ribs: quarter-cut maple: faint, medium curl; large maple plug in upper section of bass center bout
Head:maple: plain; scroll center ridge does not extend under scroll volute; light hardwood pin filling holes from dowel at front of pegbox to hold upper strings away from lower string pegs; the peg holes have been bushed at least three times; there are five hole positions; the only even spacing between the older peg hole postions is a 3-string configuration (upper, third, and four holes), though a four or five-string configuration was possible with extremely uneven spacing; note that the hole for the dowel to hold the upper strings away from the lower ones is positioned between the third and fourth string holes, so if an uneven string spacing for 4- or 5- strings was used, this might have been the reason for the gap
Neck: maple; medium curl; late, possibly early 19th century
Arching: rebent in lower bout
Edging: minimal recurve
Purfling: a purfling with very dark black is used along with lighter colorings of purfling; it is not clear the dating of the various forms
Decoration: extensive gold and colored painting with the armorials and symbols of King Charles IX of France; this painting is thought to be later than the instrument based on stylistic development of surviving instruments by Andrea Amati, including the ca. 1559 propugnaculum-painted instruments which appear to later developed style than the present cello
Varnish: medium brown; later
Fingerboard: ebony; later
Nut: ebony; later
Tailpiece: ebony; later
Tailgut: black gut
Pegs: four ebony with flat head surfaces with large inlaid mother-of-pearl circles with ebon eyes; ebony eyes on ends of heads; probably early 19th century French
Saddle: ebony; later
Endpin: adjustable; dark red hardwood with brass collar and screw and steel spike; later
F-holes: very narrow wings; large eyes; rounded notch corners; no channeling on wings or around upper part of f-holes; slightly undercut
Linings: poplar or willow; probably later
Corner blocks: spruce; probably later
Top block: spruce; later
DimensionsTotal violoncello length: 1200 mm
Back length: 754 mm
Upper bout width: 342 mm
Center bout width: 231 mm
Lower bout width: 441 mm
Upper rib height: 115-119 mm
Center rib height: 119-122 mm
Lower rib height: 120-122 mm
Stop length: 388 mm
Vibrating string length: 671 mm
Neck length (bottom of nut to ribs): 278 mm
Estimated original dimensions - see page 168 from:
Matthew Zeller, "The Violin-Family Designs of Andrea Amati: Reconstructing the Original Outlines of the 'King' Cello and 'Propugnaculo' Viola," M.M. thesis, University of South Dakota, Vermillion, 2014.
ProvenanceMid-16th century through French Revolution--French court; 1801-in Paris (repaired by Sebastien Renault); Duport (according to Olga Racster); 1812--John Betts sold instrument to Sir William Curtis; 1829--sold at auction to A. H. Bridges; ca. 1890--property of his son, John Henry Bridges, Surrey; 1957--sold at auction to Claus Franck in Mexico; 1957--sold to Carlos Prieto, cello soloist; 1966 sold by Prieto, presumably to Rembert Wurlitzer; 1967--Wurlitzer sold to Laurence Witten
Purchased by the National Music Museum from Laurence Witten family, New Haven, Connecticut, 1984.
Published ReferencesIn chronological order:
William Sandys and Simon A. Forster, The History of the Violin (London: J. R. Smith, 1864), p. 203.
Carl Engel, Catalogue of the Special Exhibition of Ancient Musical Instruments (London: J. Strangeways, 1872), no. 183.
Olga Racster, Chats on Violoncellos (London: T. Werner Laurie, 1907), pp. 110-115.
An Illustrated Catalogue of the Music Loan Exhibition Held . . . by the Worshipful Company of Musicians of Fishmongers' Hall, June and July 1904 (London: Novello and Co., Ltd., 1909), p. 159.
Elizabeth Cowling, The Cello (New York: Charles Scribner's Sons, 1975), pp. 14 a-b; 28-29.
S. F. Sacconi, I segreti di Stradivari (Cremona: Libreria del Convegno, 1972; English translation, 1979), pp. 16-17.
Laurence C. Witten, "The Surviving Instruments of Andrea Amati," Early Music 10, No. 4 (October 1982), p. 491.
Andrea Mosconi and Laurence C. Witten, Capolavori di Andrea Amati (Cremona: Ente Triennale Internazionale degli Strumenti ad Arco, 1984), pp. 53-58 and 69.
"Witten Collection Acquired," Shrine to Music Museum, Inc., Newsletter 11, No. 3 (April 1984), p. 1.
Roger Hargrave, "Preservation Order," The Strad 96, No. 1142 (June 1985), p. 127.
Margaret Downie Banks, "The Witten-Rawlins Collection and Other Early Italian Stringed Instruments at The Shrine to Music Museum," Journal of the Violin Society of America 8, No. 3 (1987), pp. 27-31.
-------, "The 'King' Holds Court in Vermillion," La Voce of Claire Givens Violins, Inc. (February 1987), p. 5.
André P. Larson, The National Music Museum: A Pictorial Souvenir (Vermillion: National Music Museum, 1988), p. 49.
Daniel Draley, ed., A Genealogy of the Amati Family of Violin Makers 1500-1740: A Translation of 'La Genealogia degli Amati Liutai' by Carlo Bonetti, published in Cremona in 1938, Gertrud Graubart Champe, translator (DeWitt, Iowa: Daniel Draley, 1989), plate 5.
-------, "The Transition of the Amati Workshop into the Hands of Stradivari, 1660-1684," Journal of The Violin Society of America 9, No. 3 (1989), pp. 77 and 81.
Roger Hargrave, "Andrea Amati 1505-1577," The Strad 102, No. 1220 (December 1991), p. 1102.
André P. Larson, "Welcome to the Amati Society," America's Shrine to Music Museum Newsletter 25, No. 5 (November 1998), pp. 4-5.
André P. Larson. "Exhibition Shown in California . . . Musical Treasures From the Age of Revolution and Romance," Shrine to Music Museum Newsletter 26, No. 1 (February 1999), pp. 1-2.
Roger Hargrave, "Artistic Alliance," The Strad 111, No. 1324 (August 2000), pp. 834 and 837.
André P. Larson, Beethoven & Berlioz, Paris & Vienna: Musical Treasures from the Age of Revolution & Romance 1789-1848, with essay by John Koster, exhibition catalog, Washington Pavilion, Sioux Falls, South Dakota, September 12-November 2, 2003 (Vermillion: National Music Museum 2003), p. 28.
Paul Laird, The Baroque Cello Revival: An Oral History (Lanham, Maryland: Scarecrow Press, 2004), unnumbered page between pp. 176-177.
--------, "Andrea Amati's 500th Birthday . . . Secrets, Lives & Violins of the Great Cremona Makers 1505-1744," National Music Museum Newsletter 32, No. 2 (May 2005), pp. 1-2.
The National Music Museum presents Celebrating the 500th Birthday of Andrea Amati: The Secrets, Lives & Violins of the Great Cremona Makers 1505-1744, Vol. 1 (Claire Givens Violins, Inc., 2005) CD
Mary Oleskiewicz, "The Rise of Italian Chamber Music," Chapter Three in The World of Baroque Music: New Perspectives, edited by George B. Stauffer (Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 2006), pp. 48, 50, and plate 8.
“World’s Oldest Cello Will Sound Again,” The Plain Talk (Vermillion), April 13, 2006.
David Lias, “Garrison Keillor Revisits Vermillion,” Yankton Press and Dakotan (June 1, 2006).
---------, Cremona 2007: A Guide to the city of Andrea Amati (London: Newsquest Specialist Media Ltd., June 2007), pp. 1-17.
Benjamin Hebbert, “Going, Going, Gone,” The Strad 122, No. 1456 (August 2011), pp. 58-60.
Lammers, Dirk. “Filled with Rare Instruments, SD’s National Music Museum Looks to Raise $15M for Revamp.” Associated Press, Published: 17 February 2013. As seen on Washington Post website: http://www.washingtonpost.com/entertainment/music/filled-with-rare-instruments-sds-national-music-museum-looks-to-raise-15m-to-revamp/2013/02/17/8c29ca62-7929-11e2-9c27-fdd594ea6286_story.html as seen on 18 February 2013.
Matthew Zeller, "The Violin-Family Designs of Andrea Amati: Reconstructing the Original Outlines of the 'King' Cello and 'Propugnaculo' Viola," M.M. thesis, University of South Dakota, Vermillion, 2014.
"Hail 'The King': Historic gilded Amati cello returns to New York City," Strings (August 2015): 58.
Kyle MacMillan. "On the Dakota Prairie, Where Instruments Are Fine Art," EMAg (Early Music America) 28, No. 3 (September 2022), p.47. (Described on this page, but an image of NMM 4548, Stainer violin, is mistakenly used in its place)
NMM catalog: _As Good as Gold: The First 50 Years (1973-2023)_. Vermillion, SD: National Music Museum, 2023. (pp. 35-36, 38-39)
Technical Drawings
Credit LineWitten-Rawlins Collection, 1984
Object number03351
On View
Not on view
1625-1630 ca.