Aegidius Klotz II Viola (baroque): Museum Object and Cultural History

The object in the museum catalogue

This viola was made by Aegidius Klotz II, in Mittenwald, Germany, about 1780. It is a baroque viola, made of a two-piece table of spruce, back of maple in one piece with an irregular fine horizontal figure, ribs are of similar maple, reset original maple neck, pegbox and scroll, and semi-transparent orange-brown varnish.

This instrument has a reproduction Nicolo Amati label placed in the viola by Aegidius Klotz II, (1733-1805, son of Sebastian Klotz), in recognition of the Amati model. Typical for these Aegidius “copies” are unusually long pegboxes, moderately high archings, nicely selected wood and a semi-transparent orange varnish. This instrument retains the reset original neck, interior blocks, linings and original bass-bar.

Materials, dates and provenance

• Date made: ca 1780
• maker: Klotz II, Aegidius
• Object Name: viola
• Physical Description: spruce (overall material)
• Physical Description: maple (overall material)
• Measurements: overall: 27 7/16 in x 9 in x 4 in; 69.69125 cm x 22.86 cm x 10.16 cm
• place made: Germany: Bavaria, Mittenwald
• ID Number: MI.69.12
• catalog number: 69.12
• accession number: 282346
• Data Source: National Museum of American History

Sources and reuse

Catalogue descriptions and facts adapted from National Museum of American History through the Smithsonian's official Open Access dataset. This record explicitly marks its metadata CC0 1.0; formatting and selection have been changed.