Viola d’amore
Date1700-1800 ca.
Place MadeMunich, Bavaria, Germany, Europe
SignedIncised and filled with black ink on later bone string holder hook: Pauli Allettsee Written in black ink on paper label: Pauli Alletsee fatto, perla / esposizione a Napoli / ,1721
DescriptionThis viola d'amore was restored and modified in the late 19th or early twentieth century, perhaps by a guitar or mandolin maker, as suggested by the materials.
Seven bowed strings and seven sympathetic strings
Top: three-piece, quarter-cut spruce: fine grain toward edges and wide at center; center section of top in one piece with wings in lower bouts of top
Back: two-piece, slab-cut maple: very broad curl descending steeply from bass to treble with much ripping across grain; break in upper bout; blackstained hardwood center strip; back bound in black-stained hardwood; whole back lined in open-pored light tropical hardwood
Ribs: slab-cut maple: very broad, very irregular curl; upper and lower ribs overlap center ribs
Head: maple; female head with ribbon and flowers in hair; veneered with tortoiseshell on faces
Neck: mahogany or Spanish cedar; grafted; later
Arching: high and full on front; flat on back with break in upper half
Purfling: very light outer strips on top; none on back
Varnish: golden; later
Fingerboard: light tropical hardwood with open pores; tapered; notch at neck heel position; later
Nut: bone; later
Tailpiece: light tropical hardwood veneered with tortoiseshell; flat; later
Tailgut: bone hook holding tailpiece; four iron pins in lower bout holding sympathetic strings
Pegs: 14 boxwood; small heads; integral pins; probably later
Saddle: ebony; set into top; later
Soundholes: flame shaped; rose set into top under fingerboard, made from undetermined material
Linings: light tropical hardwood with open pores; wide; later
Corner blocks: spruce; possibly later
Top block: spruce; later
Bottom block: spruce; later
Bassbar: spruce; wide; low; later
Back bracing: wide spruce brace in center bout at soundpost position; tapered spruce brace in upper bout and two tapered spruce braces in lower bout
DimensionsTotal viola d'amore length: 855 mm
Back length: 410 mm
Upper bout width: 191 mm
Center bout width: 122 mm
Lower bout width: 240 mm
Upper rib height: 37-43 mm
Center rib height: 43-44 mm
Lower rib height: 44-45 mm
Stop length: 210 mm
Vibrating string length: 356 mm
Neck length (bottom of nut to ribs): 143 mm
ProvenancePurchased in 1985 from André Inauen, Zurich, Switzerland.
Published ReferencesAMIS Newsletter, February 1986, p. 9.
Credit LineBoard of Trustees, 1985
Object number03967
On View
Not on view
1920-1960 ca.
