New England Bass Viol: Museum Object and Cultural History

The object in the museum catalogue

This Violoncello or Bass Viol (five-string) was made by an unknown maker in New England, about 1840. It has a two-piece table of pine, two-piece back of American maple with fine medullary ray, ribs of similar maple, plain fruitwood neck, pegbox and scroll with provision for five pegs, and an opaque reddish-brown varnish.

This instrument has a strip of newsprint from the: Indep—dent Chronicle ADVERTISER, 6.8 cm. in width, extending the length of the back along the center joint. A similar small strip of newsprint is used to secure the inlaid ribs into the back.

This instrument, in fragments is mainly original, allowing study of original features and details of construction. The neck, fingerboard, bass bar and tailpiece are intact. Bone “diamond” pattern inlays in the fingerboard are complemented by bone “ears” on the scroll and a bone saddle.

Materials, dates and provenance

• Date made: ca 1840
• Object Name: viol
• Physical Description: pine (overall material)
• Physical Description: maple (overall material)
• Measurements: overall: 6 1/2 in x 18 3/4 in x 49 in; 16.51 cm x 47.625 cm x 124.46 cm
• place made: United States: New England
• ID Number: 1983.0633.01
• accession number: 1983.0633
• catalog number: 1983.0633.01
• Credit Line: Gift of Charles P. Fisher
• 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.