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American bass viol
Benjamin Crehore (American, 1765–1831)
1788
Object Place: Dorchester, Massachusetts, United States
Medium/Technique
Maple, pine, ebony
Dimensions
Length 132 cm, width 54.6 cm (Length 51 15/16 in., width 21 1/2 in.)
Credit Line
Otis Norcross Fund
Accession Number1976.147
NOT ON VIEW
CollectionsAmericas, Musical Instruments
ClassificationsMusical instruments – Chordophones
DescriptionOne-piece back of slab-cut maple. Ribs of maple with faint medium curl. Later neck of maple with wide irregular curl. Original massive scroll with wide ears, made from two pieces of maple. Two-piece belly of wide-grain white pine (seam off-center). No purfling. Large-headed tuning pegs (one later) of stained maple. Fingerboard, nut (both later), and saddle of ebony. Short endpin of maple painted/stained black. Dark red-brown varnish. Interior construction: Later neck block, but platform carved from back for footed neck. Short, closely-spaced pine triangular liners along all of back and much of belly. Small corner blocks (later?). Long thin bassbar (later?) with with additional short and wide bassbar alongside.
InscriptionsManuscript label: Made & Sold by / Benjamin Crehore at / Dorchester 1788
Provenance1902, likely included in an exhibition sponsored by Chickering & Sons, Horticultural Hall, Boston, Massachusetts. Before 1916, according to William H. Howe, formerly used at the Old South Church, Weymouth, Massachusetts. Early 1970s, purchased at auction, Cambridge, Massachusetts, by Harold Priest, Harvard, Massachusetts; 1976, sold by Priest to the MFA. (Accession Date: June 9, 1976)