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Violin
John Gee Pickering (1804–1858)
1843
Object Place: Greenland, New Hampshire, United States
Medium/Technique
Maple, spruce, ebony
Dimensions
Length 61 cm, width 20.1 cm (Length 24 in., width 7 15/16 in.)
Credit Line
Frank B. Bemis Fund
Accession Number1987.1
NOT ON VIEW
CollectionsMusical Instruments
ClassificationsMusical instruments – Chordophones
DescriptionOne-piece back and ribs of maple. Two-piece belly of fine-grain spruce. Traditional purfling with additional purfling at seam of lower bout. Neck and pegbox of maple; sides of pegbox carved with foliate designs. Fingerboard, tailpiece (later), nut, saddle, and end button of ebony; end button with pearl dot. Tuning pegs of rosewood inlaid with abalone in floral design. Yellow-brown varnish. Internal construction: Normal modern.
InscriptionsPrinted label: JOHN G PICKERING, [handwritten: May (?)] / GREENLAND, N H [handwritten: 1843] / Musical Instrument Maker; in pencil near printed label: John G. Pickering / December 8th / 1846; in pencil opposite printed label: John G. Pickering / 1843 / 1843 1843; in pencil on neck block: John G. Pickering / 1843 / Good Violin; in pencil on lower block: John G. Pickering / 1843 / John G. Pickering; in pencil on inside of belly and back: 9. 63. top rebar / by J. Shirley / Hartford / Conn.; stamped on bridge: AUBERT / A / MIRECOURT
Provenance1987, sold by Harold Priest, Harvard, Massachusetts, to the MFA. (Accession Date: January 21, 1987)
Wind that Shakes the Barley, from Howe's New Violin Without a Master, about 1850
Published by Elias Howe
Performed by Eleanor Martinez