Marshall Violin

This violin was made by John Marshall in London, England in 1759. John Marshall worked in New Street, near Covent Garden, London, in the mid-18th century. This instrument retains the original bass-bar, interior blocks and linings. The original neck was reset and fitted with a wedge under the ebony fingerboard. Table wear between the f-holes indicates variable bridge placement. It is clear that a bridge was once located 14 mm. below the f-notches, a geometry not infrequently found in iconographic depictions of 18th-century bridge locations. The instrument is equipped with 18th-century fittings, including a solid ebony tailpiece inlaid with a marine snail-shell diamond ornament and two mother-of-pearl eyes. This violin is made of a two-piece table of spruce, two-piece back of maple with irregular medium gently ascending figure, ribs of maple with irregular fine figure, faintly figured maple neck, pegbox and scroll, and a transparent orange-brown varnish.

Currently not on view