Violoncello
Alternate name(s)
- Cello
Date1625-1630 ca.
Place MadeBrescia, Italy, Europe
Signedno labelDescriptionThis unusual cello has a flat back, like a viola da gamba, and decorative pegbox of the type seen in paintings of the first half of the seventeenth century. Its small size, however, is not generally found until the late seventeenth century. It is possible that this instrument was a type of hybrid of the violin and viola da gamba families. It is probably by the same maker as another violin in the NMM's collection.
Top: two-piece, quarter-cut spruce: very fine grain broadening to medium at the edges; faint bear claw figure
Back: two-piece, fruitwood, possibly cherry, cut off the quarter; three hardwood dowels along center joint in upper third of back; one small hardwood dowel through back near upper bass corner; later ebony button cap
Ribs: semi-slab-cut fruitwood, possibly cherry; cut corners
Head: maple or fruitwood: narrow, irregular curl; no ridge; one and a half turns on volute; deeply cut volutes; decorative protruding points on front and back of pegbox
Neck: maple: some bird's eye figure; grafted; later
Arching: flat back
Edging: minimal recurve
Purfling: none on back
Varnish: medium red-orange brown
Fingerboard: ebony; later
Nut: ebony; later
Tailpiece: ebony with mother-of-pearl dot on face
Tailgut: black gut
Pegs: four medium brown hardwood with concave faces and short stems
Saddle: ebony; later
Endpin: ebony with nickel-silver ferrule; for adjustable pin
F-holes: narrow, curved wings; small eyes; slightly undercut
Linings: poplar or willow
Corner blocks: spruce; small
Top block: spruce
Bottom block: spruce
Bassbar: spruce; later
Back braces: wide spruce reinforcement at bass bar position; tapered spruce parallel brace in upper bout
DimensionsTotal violoncello length: 1160 mm
Back length: 711 mm
Upper bout width: 321 mm
Center bout width: 215 mm
Lower bout width: 416 mm
Upper rib height: 107-118 mm
Center rib height: 115-117 mm
Lower rib height: 110-118 mm
Stop length: 377 mm
Vibrating string length: 643 mm
Neck length (bottom of nut to ribs): 269 mm
ProvenanceAcquired by Witten from the heirs of Robert Schauffler (American writer and cellist), New York, New York, through Michael Yurkevitch, 1968.
Purchased by the National Music Museum from Laurence Witten family, New Haven, Connecticut, 1984.
Published ReferencesAndré P. Larson, The National Music Museum: A Pictorial Souvenir (Vermillion:
National Music Museum, 1988), p. 17.
Credit LineWitten-Rawlins Collection, 1984
Object number03372
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