DescriptionThis half-size violin has a spruce soundboard; sycamore ribs, back, neck, and scroll; ebony fingerboard, tailpiece, pegs, button, and tail-gut protector. The soundboard is composed of two pieces of wood and has purfling made of ebony/sycamore/ebony.The back is composed of one piece of wood, and the instrument has six ribs. The neck is set at a modern angle. The varnish is a reddish-brown colour, with a tendency to obscure the grain. The back of the instrument has some evidence of solvent damage to the varnish.
Measurements: Top arch 12 mm, bottom arch 12 mm. Neck length 111 mm; fingerboard length 226 mm, width at nut 20.0 mm, at bottom 37.7 mm.
Stamped in black in a triangle "A LA VILLE DE PADOVE / NICOLAS DUCHENE" and with a small printed label with a lyre-and-fiddle trademark and "DEPOSE".
Playing accessories: chin-rest.
With shaped black pressed cardboard case, arched top, lined with green baize, with key; handle detached at one end.
Bad crack from top of the treble f-hole, about 2" long towards the top.
Illustration references: G.S. (1968) No 569.
Specific usage history: Used by aunt of donor, Mary Russell, c. 1890.
Current ownership: Gift of Anne Macaulay.
(Macaulay Collection). |