French Violin Bow: Museum Object and Cultural History

The object in the museum catalogue

This bow was made by an unknown maker in France, around 1898-1902. It is a violin bow made of a Pernambuco stick with a celluloid face, full nickel silver mounted ebony frog with pearl slide and eyes, and an ebony button with two nickel silver rings and a pearl eye (not original). Accessioned with violin (Cat. #66.095) The stick is stamped:

This commercial bow was made for Oliver Ditson and Company of Boston, Massachusetts. Ditson Company was primarily known as a music publisher, but also traded pianos and all kinds of orchestral instruments and accessories. This bow was probably stamped “OLIVER DITSOBN” while being made on contract in Mirecourt, prior to export to Boston.

Materials, dates and provenance

• date made: 1898-1902
• retailer: Oliver Ditson Company
• Object Name: Bow
• Physical Description: pernambuco (overall material)
• Physical Description: ebony (overall material)
• Physical Description: pearl (overall material)
• Physical Description: nickel silver (overall material)
• Physical Description: horsehair (overall material)
• Measurements: overall: 29 1/4 in x 1 3/16 in x 7/16 in; 74.295 cm x 3.01625 cm x 1.11125 cm
• place made: France
• ID Number: MI.66.095a
• catalog number: 66.095a
• accession number: 182022
• Credit Line: Gift of Dr. and Mrs. Arthur M. Greenwood
• 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. The displayed image also has an explicit CC0 designation.