Images(7)

Violin

Date1757

Artist/Maker Tomasso Balestrieri

OriginEurope, Italy, Mantua

MediumSpruce, Maple, Ivory, Fruitwood

DimensionsOverall: 58.2 x 20.6cm (22 15/16 x 8 1/8in.)

Credit LineMuseum Purchase

Object number1968-810,1

Description"The back is of one piece of maple cut out on the slab, prettily marked with curl of irregular figure medium in width. The sides are of quarter-cut maple marked with medium prominent curl. The artistically carved scroll is of maple marked with a medium figure. The top is of two pieces of choice selected spruce with medium narrow graining widening very slightly to the flanks. The varnish is an orange-red color." - William Moenning, 7 November 1968.
The table and back of the instrument are purfled. The button at the top of the back is capped in ebony. The neck and fingerboard are of modern configuration, with the old scroll grafted on. The pegholes have been bushed.Mark(s)On paper label inside: "Thomas Balestrieri Cremonensis / Fecit Mantuae Anno 1757"ProvenanceA document in the file indicates the instrument was purchased from the Rudolph Wurlitzer company in 1946 by Miss Emily Adams of Detroit, Michigan. Adams sold it to William Moenning & Son of Philadelphia in 1964. On July 6, 1964, Charles G. Greene purchased it from Moenning; Moenning reacquired it upon Greene's death. Moenning then sold it again, to Colonial Williamsburg, in 1968.