Object Details
Description (Brief)
This viola was made by an unknown maker possibly Scandinavia, 19th century. It is made of a table of two pieces of unrelated 45o-slab cut spruce, two-piece back of plain hardwood; ribs of similar hardwood, neck, pegbox and scroll of complementary hardwood, and semi-transparent orange-brown varnish. This viola has a reproduction Paolo Antonio Testore label.
Although less refined in execution and choice of materials, this viola is of the same school and style as the mid-19th century violin, catalog #1989.0654. The viola has never been opened and still retains a narrow bass bar carved from the table, thin rough-cut linings and a neck-top block assembly in one piece. Purfling is represented by two painted lines of ink, which is typical of an inexpensive instrument, as is the choice of plain materials for the viola's construction. While the body is varnished in a semitransparent orange-brown color, the neck and scroll are an opaque dark brown, and the fingerboard of light hardwood is painted black to imitate ebony. The endpin is made of a composite shellac base with fine lathe turnings and a delicate floral carving.