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Tenor viola da gamba (?)
Attributed to: Johann Joseph Elsler (German, died in 1747)
1725–50
Object Place: Mainz, Germany
Medium/Technique
Maple, spruce
Dimensions
Length 74.7 cm, width 27.5 cm (Length 29 7/16 in., width 10 13/16 in.)
Credit Line
Leslie Lindsey Mason Collection
Accession Number17.1714
NOT ON VIEW
CollectionsEurope, Musical Instruments
ClassificationsMusical instruments – Chordophones
DescriptionFlat back of maple, in two pieces. Ribs of maple. Belly of pine, slightly arched, purfled; two flame-shaped sound-holes. Narrow neck with peg-box adorned with grotesque man's head. Finger-board of stained boxwood. Tail-piece of ebony, embellished by three inlaid ivory discs, fixed by the gut-loop to the tail-pin. Five strings. Inside construction: Corner fillets of large radius; two cross-bars and cross-strip, 6 cm. wide and 3 mm. high, glued to the back. Bass-bar and sound-post. Dark reddish-brown varnish.
InscriptionsIn ink (?) inside: [illegible]; manuscript repair label: Donald Warnock / Lute Maker / Brewer St. Cambridge Mass / Repaired Feb. 1962
ProvenanceFrancis W. Galpin (1858-1945), Hatfield Regis, England; 1916, sold by Francis W. Galpin to William Lindsey (1858-1922), Boston, Massachusetts; 1916, gift of William Lindsey, in memory of his daughter, Leslie Lindsey Mason, to the MFA. (Accession Date: October 5, 1916)