Marshall Violin: Museum Object and Cultural History

The object in the museum catalogue

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.

Materials, dates and provenance

• Date made: 1759
• maker: Marshall, John
• Object Name: violin
• Physical Description: spruce (table material)
• Physical Description: maple (back material)
• Measurements: overall: 24 in x 8 1/2 in x 4 in; 60.96 cm x 21.59 cm x 10.16 cm
• place made: United Kingdom: England, London
• ID Number: MI.68.02
• catalog number: 68.02
• accession number: 274966
• 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.