DHV:
1519
Tourin ID:
Size:
Bass
Place Made:
Maker:
GB
London
Thomas
Allred
Date:
1635
Label Text:
Thomas Allred / in Holborne / London 1635 [handwritten]
Body Shape:
Viol
Current Location:
CH
No. of Strings:
6
Collection:
Private Collection
Sound Holes:
C
Catalog Number:
Head:
Female
Private Owner:
Yes
Previous Owner:
Hamma, Stuttgart, -1965
Measurements:
Body Length:
75.2
String Length:
69.5
Rib Depth:
13
Upper Width:
35.9
Middle Width:
27.8
Bottom Width:
42.9
Information
Source:
TGM visit [to Paul Reichlin’s shop], 11/10; owner to TGM, 6/09
Literature:
Photographs:
Fleming & Bryan 2016, pl. 10 (label) [color]);[unpublished, from owner’s private catalogue: FB+S (color)]; [by TGM: head F+B, treble soundhole, details of outer table joint lines, label (plus better by Reichlin, also FB+S) (color)]
Recordings:
Piguet 197? (Handel)
Auctions:
Comments:
7-piece table with no central ornament; 2-piece back, plain except for large V at neck; both with double purfling. Pegbox has carved back, stippled sides; fingerboard and tailpiece have ebony veneer with single blond perimeter line. No crossbars on back except broad soundpost plate; thin wood perimeter linings, wood also on center joint and at fold; corner blocks. Top block has 2 nail holes. Either side of hookbar are 6+6 plugged holes (each about 6 mm) in a V-shape, likely to anchor or tune sympathetic strings; instrument was a cello when acquired. Restored by Paul Reichlin, 1968; his certificate (provided by owner in typescript) calls it “ein alt-englisches Instrument ... gebaut von Thomas Aldred im Jahre 163?. Es ist in allen Teilen echt, ausser dem Kopf, dem Griffbrett und dem Saitenhalter. ... Die schöne Etikette aus Pergament, mit Tinte beschrieben, ist echt und zum Instrument gehörig.” Nothing said about neck, which must also be a replacement; varnish said to be original; measurements given as 74.0, 33.5/26.3/40.8, 13.0, 69.5 (perhaps taken with calipers?). Label may be hand-made paper rather than parchment; last digit of date is a 5, over which a vertical stroke appears in a different ink, not part of original writing; as a result, date could be read as 1639 (and is so credited on Piguet’s recording), thus matching a reference in Hill, English Makers [unpublished notes at Ashmolean] to a viol labeled “Thomas Aldred / in Holborn, London, 1639” that was “offered from Donai 30.3.1906.”