Tenor viola da gamba
Alternate name(s)
- Tenor viol
Maker
Gregor Karp
Date1693
Place MadeKoenigsberg, Prussia, Europe
Place MadeKaliningrad, Russia, Europe
Place MadeKönigsberg, Germany, Europe
Place MadePoland
Place MadeLithuania
Serial No.none
SignedWritten in old German script in black ink on polygonal paper label with cut corners: GregorÿKarp / InKönigsberg / Anno1693DescriptionThis tenor-sized viol by Gregor Karp was made in Königsberg, East Prussia, today called Kaliningrad, Russia. It is a finely decorated instrument that nevertheless has a back and sides made of the unusual material birch, a wood common in its area of construction.
Top: two-piece, quarter-cut spruce: narrow to wide grain; pin through top into bottom block on bass side of center joint
Back: two-piece, slab-cut birch: with very strong, broad curl ascending from center joint; flat with break in upper bout; center joint divided by ebony strip
Ribs: slab-cut maple or birch: very strong, broad curl angled to left on bass side; angled to right on treble side
Head and neck: maple or birch: plain; pegbox with carved vine and punch decoration, terminating in female head; carved vine and punch decoration on sides of neck heel; neck narrowed for use as a cello then re-widened with ebony
Arching: high on front; flat back with break in upper bout
Edging: no recurve
Purfling: five-ply on front; none on back
Varnish: dark red-brown
Fingerboard: black-stained spruce veneered with ebony and ivory polygons and parallelograms and bone strips; re-widened with ebony after having been cut down for use as a cello
Nut: ivory
Tailpiece: black-stained maple veneered with ebony and ivory polygons and parallelograms and bone strips; angled ebony and bone trim; engraved and black-ink filled ivory crown inlaid below hook; bone saddle flush with upper edge is later
Hook: ironwood with bone cap on front; later; hole in bottom block shows filled endpin hole from cello conversion
Pegs: six snakewood with bone pins; later
Saddle: none
Soundholes: c-shaped soundholes with very narrow wings; very close to edge and steeply undercut
Linings: spruce
Corner blocks: linen cloth
Top block: spruce; iron nail through top block into neck heel
Bottom block: spruce
Bassbar:
Back braces: wide spruce brace in center bout; narrower spruce brace in upper bouts with spruce braces on ribs extending from top to back in same position; brace in lower bout now removed, though spruce braces on ribs at same position remain; back break reinforced with light cloth; paper strip glued along center joint
DimensionsTotal tenor viola da gamba length: 897 mm
Back length: 550 mm
Upper bout width: 257 mm
Center bout width: 187 mm
Lower bout width: 303 mm
Upper rib height: 77-106 mm
Center rib height: 105-106 mm
Lower rib height: 105-107 mm
Stop length: 282 mm
Vibrating string length: 513 mm
Neck length (bottom of nut to ribs): mm
ProvenanceAccording to Sotheby's sale catalog, November 23-25, 1988, p. 296, “This instrument is thought to have been one of the viols made for the Christian Ludwig, Margrave of Brandenburg.” Tony Bingham purchased it from Sotheby's, November 25, 1988 (Lot 663) on behalf of NMM. Formerly in the collections of Canon Francis Galpin and Eric Marshall Johnson.
Purchased by National Music Museum from Tony Bingham, London, 1989.
Published ReferencesSotheby's Musical Instruments: November 23-25, 1988 (London: Sotheby's, 1988), Lot No. 663, pp. 296-297.
Herbert Heyde, Musikinstrumentenbau in Preussen (Tutzing: Hans Schneider, 1994), pp. 370-371, 373.
John Koster, "Museum Collections as Resources for Musical Instrument Makers," American Lutherie, 42 (Summer 1995), p. 29.
David Schulenberg, Music of the Baroque (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2001), p. 45.
Credit LineArne B. and Jeanne F. Larson Fund, 1989
Object number04573
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