DHV:
27
Tourin ID:
ASHMOL 6
Size:
Tenor
Place Made:
Maker:
GB
London
Richard
Blunt
Date:
1605
Label Text:
Richard Blunt, dwelling in London in Fetter Lane, 1605 [handwritten; now missing]
Body Shape:
Viol
Current Location:
GB
Oxford
No. of Strings:
6
Collection:
Ashmolean Museum
Sound Holes:
C
Catalog Number:
WA1939.34 (Ash.07); Boyden 6
Head:
Male
Private Owner:
Previous Owner:
Messrs. Arthur and Alfred Hill, London, 1914-1939; Miss Oliphant of Brixton, -1914; John Constable, R.A. (?)
Measurements:
Body Length:
55.5
String Length:
59
Rib Depth:
10.5
Upper Width:
27
Middle Width:
19.8
Bottom Width:
31.4
Information
Source:
(TGM visit 10/01); PT visit 6/77; Boyden 1969, p. 12
Literature:
Fleming 2011, pp. 70-77, 78-79; Fleming 2009, pp. 121-23; Topham 2002, pp. 251-52; Fleming 2001: VME 21; Boyden 1969, p. 12
Photographs:
The Viol 2022, pp. 1 (head front [color]), 3-4 (3/4, head FB+S); Fleming & Bryan 2016, pl. 8 (head side [color]); MacCracken 2011, p. 56 (FB+S); Fleming 2011, pp. 70-77 (front 3/4, both sides, F+B body only, head FB+S, bottom rib, details (color); Fleming 2009, p. 130 (front [color]); Whiteley 2008, p. 13 (front [color]); Fleming 2001: VME F21 (front body only), L26 (pegbox back), L27 (back, lower rib) [all color]; Harwood 1981, p. 473 (front); Boyden 1969, pl. 6 (FB+S, head FB+S)
Recordings:
Auctions:
Comments:
Boyden 1969: “small bass (lyra) viol” (Tourin: bass); 5-piece table, 2-piece back, both with double purfling; pegbox and head original; neck, fingerboard, tailpiece, pegs, and probably hookbar are not. No label, but quotes Desmond Hill that there used to be one with wording given above. Alfred Hill’s diary, seen at Charles Beare’s home 10/01, says on 7/10/1914 that he has just purchased a small English viol of 1605 by Richard Blunt, the first he has ever seen by this maker, from Miss Oliphant of Brixton, lacking its original fittings. Fleming 2001: dimensions 55.5, 26.6/19.5/31.2, 10.5, -. Topham 2002: could not establish a date for table using dendrochronology, but both pieces probably from same tree. Fleming 2011: notably lopsided outline, hence not made on a mold; C-holes also very uneven in shape and position (treble longer and lower). Back and ribs of slab-cut pearwood (except upper bass of maple); back has very narrow wings, apparently original, on treble upper and both lower bouts, and is lined below fold. All interior fittings modern. Integral pegbox and carved head; purfling work “of modest but adequate quality.” Dimensions 55.5, 26.6/19.5/31.2, 10.5, 58.5 (widths with callipers). Drawing by John Pringle formerly available from W.E. Hill & Sons.