DHV:
265
Tourin ID:
FOLGER 1, KENS 1
Size:
Treble
Place Made:
Maker:
GB
Somerset ?
John
Strong
Date:
1590 C
Label Text:
Made in Som...et / by John Strong / given to D. Read by B___C___ [handwritten]
Body Shape:
Festoon
Current Location:
USA
Washington, DC
No. of Strings:
6
Collection:
Folger Shakespeare Library
Sound Holes:
Flame
Catalog Number:
ART Inv. 1047
Head:
Scroll
Private Owner:
Previous Owner:
Purchased c. 1930 by Mrs. Folger from Arnold Dolmetsch, who owned it at least by 1891; C.J. Read, Salisbury (in 1872)
Measurements:
Body Length:
42.8
String Length:
43?
Rib Depth:
5.5
Upper Width:
19.5
Middle Width:
14
Bottom Width:
24.1
Information
Source:
TGM visit 8/92; Monical report to Folger, 1978
Literature:
Fleming 2001: VME 16; Hayes 1930, pp. 48-49, 249; Engel 1872, p. 22 (no. 156)
Photographs:
Fleming 2001: VME F16 (front body only), L28 (soundholes, table ornament) [both color]; van der Meer 1983, p. 53 (front); Camner 1980, p. 28 (front, played by a young Nathalie Dolmetch in the family consort, c. 1929); Hayes 1930, pl. 3 (front)
Recordings:
Auctions:
Comments:
4-piece table [sic] with ornament; soundholes formerly had circles at top as well as bottom. Back is burled walnut (per P. Tourin) or elm (per M. Fleming, VME n. 1102). Neck, pegbox and head modern, presumably by Dolmetsch (but neck butt original); scroll very like Caldwells’ Rose. (However, Engel 1872 says “Head and neck by Banks of Salisbury,” so not original even then; his date “17th century”.) Not set up when seen, so string length estimated. Repair inscription: Restored by Chickering and Sons / under the direction of / Arnold Dolmetsch / November 1906 / Boston, U.S.A. [handwritten in pencil on soundpost plate]. Fleming 2001: 4-piece table, double purfling front and back; label modern, perhaps copying lost original; dimensions 42.6, 19.5/14.1/24.0, 5.6, - (“ribs suspiciously shallow”); maker perhaps same John Strong who in 1616 witnessed the will of Oxford composer and viol-player Richard Read (TGM: cf. label and prev. owner). Hayes 1930, p. 249: then property of Arnold Dolmetsch, string length 40.6, rib depth 6.4 (including plates?)