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This viola was probably made in Markneukirchen, Saxony, and exported via Cremona to increase its value. Such practices are very common. It is a well made trade instrument, similar to the modern `standard' sized violas that are popular today.
Viola
Labelled Gio. Maria Ceruti
Europe
Italy
Southern Europe

Instrument Information

Title

Viola

Accession Number

0772

Collection

MIMEd

Date Information

Date Made

1923

Period

20th century; 1920s

Gallery Information

Gallery

Wolfson Gallery

Case

Bowed strings and bagpipes case 6

Maker Information

Maker Name

Labelled Gio. Maria Ceruti

Maker Biography

The Ceruti family were violin makers in Cremona and Mantua in the late eighteenth and throughout the nineteenth century. Giovanni Battista was the first member of the family to make bowed string instruments. His son Giuseppe also made instruments but alternated this with work as a wood turner. Giovanni Battista’s second son was a prolific maker and repairer of instruments in the nineteenth century. In addition to making instruments he was a dealer of instruments and a professional double bass player. Giorgio Maria Ceruti is believed to be a descendant of these makers and to have worked in Cremona.

Made In

Country

Italy

Description

Technical Description

This viola has a soundboard of spruce; back, ribs, neck, and scroll of sycamore; fingerboard, tailpiece, tail-gut protector, pegs and endbutton of ebony. The soundboard has a close, even grain, black/sycamore/black purfling, and a golden varnish with an orange tinge. There is medium figure on the ribs and two piece back; the figure on back goes up towards the top in the centre and down at the edges. There are ebony plugged holes at the top and bottom of the back, offset from the centre line. The neck and pegbox/scroll are of one piece, with an added piece of ebony at the heel between the bottom of the neck and the back. The neck is unvarnished, and the tailpiece has four fine tuners.

Measurements: Neck length 149mm; fingerboard length 297mm, width at nut 23.5mm, at bottom 45.2mm. Soundboard arch 17mm; Back arch 17mm.

Tailpiece incorporating 4 fine tuners.

Inscription: Printed label "Officina Claudio Monteverde / CREMONA" and signed over it "Gio. Maria Ceruti 1923".
Decorative features: chin-rest.

Playing accessories: strings.
With shaped black pressed cardboard case with arched top, lined with dark green baize.

Performance characteristics: Good tone in middle and upper register, but with weak C3 string.

Associated with box (773).

Current ownership: Lent by G. Melville-Mason.

Provenance

on loan to the Collection.

Classification

Instrument

Viola/Violas/Strings/Musical Instrument ; Viola

Instrument Family

Strings

Hornbostel Sachs Classification

314.122-71 ; musical instrument