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Tenor violin
about 1820–40
Object Place: United States, New England region
Medium/Technique
Maple, spruce, ebony
Dimensions
Length 81 cm, width 30.5 cm (Length 31 7/8 in., width 12 in.)
Credit Line
William Lindsey Fund
Accession Number65.2684
NOT ON VIEW
CollectionsMusical Instruments
ClassificationsMusical instruments – Chordophones
DescriptionTwo-piece back of bird's-eye maple (highly arched at waist). Ribs similar. Neck of plain maple. Large wedge of maple (13 mm. maximum thickness) between neck and fingerboard. Unusually carved volutes on scroll. One full-width channel on back of pegbox. One-piece belly of slab-cut pine (?). No purfling. Elongated F-holes, attached at upper end (originally attached at lower end also, but cut away). Tuning pegs, fingerboard, and tailpiece (all later?) of ebony. Nut, saddle, and neck heel of bone. End-button and bridge (later) of maple. Interior construction: Rectangular upper block with rounded corners. Lower end of base of neck (and possibly upper end also) has tenon projecting into upper block, apparently reinforced or repaired by hardwood peg (8 mm. diameter) through upper end of back. Rectangular lower block with rounded corners. Square-section liners, joined to back and belly with wood pegs. Bass bar and soundpost apparently later.
ProvenanceBefore 1965, Guy Moyer, Freeburg, Pennsylvania; by 1965, sold by Moyer to Harold W. Westover, Bloomberg, Pennsylvania; 1965, sold by Westover to the MFA. (Accession Date: January 13, 1982)