Violoncello
Alternate name(s)
- Cello
Date1725-1750 ca.
Place MadeItaly, Europe
Serial No.none
SignedWritten in black ink on lined paper label: Ioseph de Bancis Fecit / Anno·i70[effaced]·ParmaDescriptionThis eighteenth century cello has back and sides made of willow or poplar, an alternative local wood used for larger violin-family instruments in Italy.
Top: two-piece, quarter-cut spruce: wide grain
Back: one-piece, slab-cut poplar or willow; one one pin through back into top block; Three wood pins through back into bottom block
Ribs: slab-cut poplar or willow; one-piece lower rib
Head: maple: plain
Neck: maple: narrow curl
Varnish: very dark red-brown; later
Fingerboard: ebony; bevelled at C-string position; later
Nut: ebony; later
Tailpiece: ebony; later
Tailgut: plain gut
Pegs: four ebony with mother-of-pearl eyes and flat heads
Saddle: ebony; later
Endpin: ebony for use with steel pin; later
F-holes: curved stems; curved, tapered wings
Linings: poplar or willow; extend over corner blocks
Corner blocks: poplar or willow
Top block: spruce
Bottom block: poplar or willow
Bassbar: spruce
DimensionsTotal violoncello length: 1130 mm
Back length: 697 mm
Upper bout width: 323 mm
Center bout width: 209 mm
Lower bout width: 408 mm
Upper rib height: 111-114 mm
Center rib height: 111-114 mm
Lower rib height: 111-118 mm
Stop length: 378 mm
Vibrating string length: 645 mm
Neck length (bottom of nut to ribs): 266 mm
ProvenanceThe previous owner’s mother, Nina Loomis, bought the instrument 1935 in New York City from a dealer in Carnegie Hall. Alice Healy graduated from Morningside College, Sioux City, Iowa, and played in Sioux City Symphony in 1931-1937, and in Ft. Dodge Symphony 1975-1987.
Gift of Alice Healy, Sloan, Iowa
Credit LineGift of Alice Healy, 1992
Object number05300
On View
Not on view
1740 - 1760 ca.
1625-1630 ca.