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.
MarkingsOn 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.
Exhibition(s)
1698
1560-1570
1730-1750
1795-1811
1750-1760
late 18th century
ca. 1805 (possibly)
ca. 1850
1740-1760
1800-1815
1840-1845 (probably)