Scan 233
Catalogue of the Stearns collection of musical instruments, 1921
27 lines. Read by computer on 22 September 2026. Printed page 199. See the scan on archive.org.
11293. VIOLA DA BRACCIO ………………………………………Italy
2Deep model with moulded back. Peg-box of unusual shape. Seven gut strings, the lower of which are overstrung.
3Length, 76 cm.; width, 23.5 cm.; depth, 7.5 cm.
4Signed—"Joanes Marcus," but bearing no date.
61294. VIOLA D'AMORE (Ger. Liebesgeige). Eighteenth century….Italy
7Narrow model. Ebony and ivory inlay. Six gut strings, played with the bow, and six sympathetic strings of fine wire.
8Length, 78 cm.; width, 23 cm.; depth, 6 cm.
101295. VIOLA D'AMORE. Eighteenth century …………………Italy
11Narrow model. Tail-piece and finger-board inlaid with mother-of-pearl, tortoise-shell, ivory, and ebony. Seven bowed, and seven sympathetic strings.
12Length, 80 cm.; width, 21.5 cm.; depth, 8.3 cm.
141296. VIOLE D'AMOUR. Eighteenth century …………………France
15Deep model. Inlay of mother-of-pearl. Seven gut strings, and seven sympathetic strings of wire.
16Length, 93 cm.; width, 33 cm.; depth, 9 cm.
17Signed—"Louis Guersan, près la Comedie Francaise, in Paris, 1737."
191296A. VIOLA D'AMORE ………………………………………Italy, or France
20This beautiful instrument, of the eighteenth century, exhibits the rare workmanship characteristic of early Italian and French makers, and is the choicest example of its type in the Collection. The top of the body—with C sound-holes—is purfled with ivory and ebony inlay, and the back carries a representation of a shepherdess surrounded with scroll-work designs. The curved peg-box ends in a carving of a man's head. Six bowed strings run over a finger-board of ebony, inlaid with boxwood in an artistic design, to a tail-piece of like material and decoration. Six sympathetic strings occupy their usual positions.
21Length, 83 cm.; of body, 38 cm.; width, lower part, 25.4 cm.; upper part, 20 cm.; at waist, 13 cm.; depth, 5.8 cm.
22(Albert Lockwood.)
24That the Viola d'amore boasts but a limited number of strings is shown by comparison with the Polychord, a ten-stringed violin (four of the strings being overstrung), invented by Fred Hillmer of Leipzig, in 1799. The stringing and tuning—c to c"—favored the playing of arpeggios. Between 1811 and 1818 the number of strings was reduced to eight. Fortunately it is now obsolete.6
266 Sachs, p. 303.
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