Salchow Violin Bow (baroque model): Museum Object and Cultural History

The object in the museum catalogue

This bow was made by William Salchow in New York, New York, in 1976. It is a violin bow, with a fluted octagonal dark brown snakewood stick terminating in a pike head, and a plain ebony frog and button. This baroque model bow was acquired for use in recreating baroque performance practices. The bow is stamped:

Materials, dates and provenance

• date made: 1976
• maker: Salchow, William
• maker: Salchow, William
• Object Name: bow
• Physical Description: snakewood (overall material)
• Physical Description: ebony (overall material)
• Physical Description: metal (overall material)
• Physical Description: horsehair (overall material)
• Measurements: overall: 1 1/4 in x 7/16 in x 28 1/4 in; 3.175 cm x 1.11125 cm x 71.755 cm
• place made: United States: New York, New York
• ID Number: MI.76.19
• catalog number: 76.19
• accession number: 322694
• 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.