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DHV:
685
Tourin ID:
NURN 25

Size:

Bass

Place Made:

Maker:

D

Leipzig

Martin

Hoffmann

Date:

1688

Label Text:

Martin Hoffmann / in Leipzig 1688 [printed except second 8]

Body Shape:

Viol

Current Location:

D

Nuremberg

No. of Strings:

6

Collection:

Germanisches Nationalmuseum

Sound Holes:

C

Catalog Number:

MI 507

Head:

Female

Private Owner:

Previous Owner:

Klaus Bender, -1983

Measurements:

Body Length:

64.4

String Length:

66.4

Rib Depth:

13

Upper Width:

30.1

Middle Width:

23.5

Bottom Width:

37.4

Information

Source:

Martius 2015, pp. 330-31; Martius 1999, p. 48; Leonard & Martius 1990; PT visits 6/77 & 9/78

Literature:

Martius 2015, pp. 330-31; Martius 1999, p. 48; Leonard & Martius 1990; Huber 1989, p. 78

Photographs:

On museum’s website (FB+S [color]); Martius 2015, pp. 173 (arching, C-hole [color]), 176 (top off), 178 (bottom rib w/o hookbar), 242 (detail of edge inlay [color], rosette from above and below [former also p. 174]), 330-31 (FB+S, top off, underside of table, label [color]); Leonard & Martius 1990, pp. 117-18, 121, 123 (front both before and after restoration, label, underside of table)

Recordings:

Auctions:

Comments:

Martius MH 2. Table with single purfling plus black-and-white edging (both of ebony and ivory) and multi-level rosette; no purfling on back, which has 3 crossbars in addition to soundpost plate. Had been converted to a cello in early 19th C; restored as a gamba 1987-89 with new neck (modeled on J.C. Hoffmann 1725, in Bachhaus, Eisenach, including head), fingerboard, and tailpiece: see Leonard & Martius 1990. Most elaborately decorated viol by MH; fingerboard and tailpiece would probably also have been decorated. Dendrochronology (by Peter Klein) gives date of 1685 for youngest growth ring on table. Back widths 28.8/22.2/36.8. Martius 1999: very similar to 1687 M. Hoffmann at The Hague; dimensions 64.3, 29.7/22.6/37.0, 13.0, 66.4. Drawing by Magali Traynard (and restoration report by Traynard, Leonard, and Martius) at museum.

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