Violin
Date1625 - 1900 ca.
Place MadeItaly, Europe
Place MadeGermany, Europe
MarkingsGlue evidence of paper label, now missing.DescriptionThis enigmatic violin has a back by the same maker as an instrument in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, 1990.7. Several other instruments have surfaced at auctions also bearing the distinctive outline, corners, and purfled inlay of this master, who likely worked in Central or Northern Europe. Noteable are the fine detail of the tight knot inlays and the circular inlays inserted within them, a feature not seen on the work of any other maker. The Metropolitan Museum's violin still bears its original top, allowing for dendrochronological dating, which suggested a date of manufacture around 1625. The National Music Museum's violin is a composite combining this back with parts of another, larger violin, along with fittings dating to the 18th or early 19th century.
Top: one-piece softwood cut off the quarter: wide grain
Back: one-piece, slab-cut maple: faint, narrow, irregular curl and some bird's eye figure
Ribs: softwoods and hardwoods of various cuts; one-piece lower rib
Head: unknown wood; minimaly projecting ears
Neck: plain maple, grafted and reangled
Arching: full to edges on back
Edging: minimal recurve on top
Purfling: double black painted lines on top; double on back
Decoration: intricate purfled knot patterns at top, center, and bottom, with circular wood inlays
Varnish: dark orange
Fingerboard: ebony; slightly wedge-shaped; channeled on underside over neck position
Nut: ebony
Tailpiece: ebony; no saddle; key-shaped string holes; tailgut passes through holes in face; concave lower edge; late 18th-early 19th century design
Tailgut: fine copper wires
Pegs: four medium, orange-red hardwood; narrow, undercut heads with concave faces; late 18th-early 19th century design
Saddle: ebony; narrow; flush with top
Endpin: dark hardwood; decoratively turned head
F-holes: narrow, curved wings
Linings: spruce; narrow
Corner blocks: light hardwood
Top block: spruce; narrow
Bottom block: spruce
Bassbar: spruce; low height
Other: scraping marks on inside of back
DimensionsTotal violin length: 584 mm
Back length: 364 mm (back has been lengthened to match dimensions of top)
Upper bout width: 160 mm
Center bout width: 109 mm
Lower bout width: 198 mm
Upper rib height: 24-26 mm
Center rib height: 23-26 mm
Lower rib height: 25-27 mm
Stop length: 194 mm
Vibrating string length: 324 mm
Neck length (bottom of nut to ribs): 131 mm
ProvenanceLaurence Witten acquired from the Bisiach Collection, Venegono Superiore, Italy, 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 number03420
On View
Not on view
1760 ca.