Books › Old violins, 1910 › scan 35
Scan 35
Old violins, 1910
8 lines. Read by computer on 3 September 2026. Printed page 29. See the scan on archive.org.
1but it does not much matter what it is made of, or how it is decorated.
3The Purfling, although occasionally resisting damage to the outlying edge, is chiefly ornamental, and consists of three thin strips of wood—two ebony or whalebone, and one of white wood—glued together and inlaid.
5In the purfling we have the last survival of the inlaying as applied to musical instruments. You will notice that the further you go back the more elaborately inlaid are the viols and violins. It was thought that the instrument, which was little more in those days of rudimentary music than a toy, might fitly be exploited to show off the conceit of artists and the skill of cabinet-makers; but as music developed and tone was reckoned all-important, every detail likely to interfere with this new development gradually disappeared, till in the hands of the Cremonese makers the faint memory of all the gorgeous mother-of-pearl, ebony, ivory, gold and silver embossing, survives only in the narrow three thin lines of the purfling which strike the contour of the instrument and give piquancy to its form.
7And thus the perfect sounding violin, though denuded of all superfluous decoration and meretricious adornment, yet remains a miracle of art—"a thing of beauty and a joy for ever."
The computer misreads some letters and numbers. Where a name matters to you, read the scan.