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Tenor viola da gamba
Attributed to: Richard Blunt (English, active about 1590–1610)
about 1600
Object Place: London, England
Medium/Technique
Maple, spruce, ebony
Dimensions
Length 102.3 cm, width 32 cm (Length 40 1/4 in., width 12 5/8 in.)
Credit Line
Leslie Lindsey Mason Collection
Accession Number17.1718
NOT ON VIEW
CollectionsEurope, Musical Instruments
ClassificationsMusical instruments – Chordophones
DescriptionStandard pattern. Flat back of maple, in two pieces with purfling. Ribs of maple. Belly of soft pine, slightly arched, with two C-holes. Neck of maple with peg-box and carved head of blind-folded woman at the top. Finger-board of maple, veneered with ebony; twenty German silver frets inserted in it. Hook-bar of maple, affixed to the bottom block by two turned pins with heads; tail-piece of maple veneered with ebony. Six strings with movable bridge (violoncello type). Internal construction (as found before restoration): back reinforced by two cross-bars and cross strip 8 cm. wide and 6 mm. thick; the bend line of back reinforced by rough linen strip; regular lining at the joint of ribs and belly, but the joint of ribs and back formed of rough linen strip glued to both; circular fillets in corners; the ends of both cross-bars supported by small brackets glued to the ribs and cross-bars. Bass-bar and sound-post. Dark reddish-brown varnish.
InscriptionsPrinted repair label: JOHN A. GOULD & SONS / [Established 1889] / Violin Makers, Dealers and Repairers / BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS / [handwritten: Two new cross bars; six / new linings, and crack / stays inserted. JUNE 1936
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)