Violin
Maker
Jacob Stainer
Date1668
Place MadeAbsam, Tyrol, Austria, Europe
Serial No.none
SignedWritten in black ink on paper label, with splotch in middle of J & on p: Jacobus Stainer in Absom / propè OenipontumMpia 1668MarkingsScratched into lower end of back of pegbox: J J
Scratched into center bass rib: M
Scratched on lower bass corner of top and lower bass corner of back: +
DescriptionJacob Stainer (ca. 1619-1683) was the most important violin maker North of the Alps in the seventeenth century. His Amati-influenced model was widely copied in German-speaking lands for the following two centuries. This Stainer violin is preserved in exceptionally fine condition, with its original neck, interior components, fingerboard, and tailpiece. Dendrochronology was performed on the instrument by Micha Beuting and Peter Klein in conjunction with the Jakob Stainer exhibition at Schloss Ambras, Austria, in 2003. The tree rings visible on the violin are between 1444 and 1584.
Technical drawing available for purchase.
Top: two-piece, quarter-cut spruce: very fine grain broadening to fine at the edges; bear claw figure in upper bout; top not notched at neck position
Back: two-piece, quarter-cut maple: irregular narrow curl descending from center joint
Ribs: quarter-cut maple: narrow curl angled slightly to left
Head and neck: maple: narrow curl
Arching: high
Purfling: continues under fingerboard and in front of saddle
Varnish: medium brown with cracquelure
Fingerboard: maple veneered with ebony; strongly wedge shaped with large notch at joint between neck and body; channeled under neck position
Nut: ebony; possibly later
Tailpiece: maple veneered with ebony; sides painted black; tailgut passes through holes drilled in face
Tailgut: copper wire
Pegs: four yew with undercut heads and decoratively drilled holes; bone pins; later
Saddle: ebony; trapezoidal shape with curved sides extending over lower rib; flush with profile of edge
Endpin: maple
F-holes: strongly curved, tapered wings
Linings: walnut; set into corner blocks in center bouts
Corner blocks: spruce
Top block: spruce; iron nail through block into neck heel
Bottom block: spruce
Bassbar: spruce; low height
Back joint lined with piece of square-note music on parchment
DimensionsTotal length: 580 mm
Back length: 354 mm
Upper bout: 167 mm
Center bout: 108 mm
Lower bout: 206 mm
Upper bout width: 166 mm
Center bout width: 106 mm
Lower bout width: 204 mm
Upper rib height: 30-31 mm
Center rib height: 31 mm
Lower rib height: 31-32 mm
Stop length: 192 mm
Vibrating string length: 325 mm
Neck length (bottom of nut to ribs): 122 mm
ProvenanceAccording to letter from Andrew Hill to Sam Bloomfield (April 5, 1979), the violin was made by Stainer for a convent in Munich where it remained until late 19th century, when it was shown to Hamma in Stuttgart. Hills acquired it directly from Hamma. According to Senn/Roy book, the violin was in a cloister in Salzburg before Hamma obtained it in 1935. Hills obtained it from Hamma in 1935. According to David Boyden’s book, they had it in 1965. Skeaping notes Hills’ ownership 1948. Sold to Sam Bloomfield in 1978. Bloomfield died in 1979. Violin in custody(?) of Hans Weisshaar, Hollywood (1980).
Purchased by National Music Museum at auction (Sotheby’s, London, November 23, 1988). Tony Bingham of London bid on our behalf.
Published ReferencesDavid D. Boyden, The History of Violin Playing (London: 1965), pp. 195-197 and photo pl. 26. (sideview).
David D. Boyden, "Violin, I, 4: c1600 to c1785," in The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians, edited by Stanley Sadie (London: Macmillan, 1980), Vol. 19, p. 828, illustration 11a.
David D. Boyden, "Violin, I, 4: c1600 to c1785," in The New Grove Dictionary of Musical Instruments, edited by Stanley Sadie (London: Macmillan, 1984), Vol. 3, p. 774, illustration 11a.
Robert Lewin, “Dream Collection,” The Strad Vol. 99, No. 1183 (November 1988), p. 927. (“The [Stainer] is in incredibly mint condition and needs to be seen to be believed.”
p. 929)
Robert Lewin, “Treasure Trove,” The Strad Vol. 100, No.1185 (January 1989), pp. 53-55.
The Sam and Rie Bloomfield Foundation Collection of Violins and Bows (Sotheby’s souvenir auction catalog-special edition) 1988: lot 5, p. 16.
Walter Senn and Karl Roy, Jakob Stainer (Frankfurt: 1986), p. 218.
Walter Hamma, Geigenbauer der Deutschen Schule des 17. bis 19. Jahrhunderts (Tutzing: 1986) Vol. II, pp. 309-312 (includes measurements and photos pp. 330-332).
David D. Boyden, “Violin I, 4: c. 1600 to c. 1785,” NGDMI, ed. Stanley Sadie, (London: 1984), vol. 3, figure 11a. (same photo used in his book, pl. 26-sideview).
Kenneth Skeaping, “Some Speculations on a Crisis in the History of the Violin,” Galpin Society Journal Vol. VIII (March 1955), photo after p. 36; pp. 3-12.
Karl Roy, “Jacobus Stainer and his Labels,” Journal of the Violin Society of America Vol. 9, No. 1 (1988), pp.11-33.
“1989 Acquisitions at USD Music Museum,” AMIS Newsletter Vol. XIX, No. 1 (February 1990), p. 13.
André P. Larson, "National Meeting Scheduled . . . Gala Weekend Features Concert,
Gallery Opening," The Shrine to Music Museum Newsletter 17, No. 3 (April 1990), pp. 1-2.
Rudolf Hopfner. Jacob Stainer. (Vienna: Kunsthistorisches Museum, 2003)
André P. Larson, "A Summer in the Alps . . . Two Great Instruments Loaned For Exhibition in Innsbruck," National Music Museum Newsletter 30, No. 2 (May 2003), pp. 1-2.
Kyle MacMillan. "On the Dakota Prairie, Where Instruments Are Fine Art," EMAg (Early Music America) 28, No. 3 (September 2022), p.48 (illustrated in wrong place on page 46, while Andrea Guarneri viola NMM 3354 is shown in its place on page 48).
Technical Drawings
Credit LineBoard of Trustees, 1989, in memory of Arne B. and Jeanne F. Larson.
Object number04548
On View
Not on view
