DHV:
730
Tourin ID:
PARIS 41, LOAN 23
Size:
Bass
Place Made:
Maker:
GB
London
John
Pitts
Date:
1679
Label Text:
John Pitts in / Pauls Churtch / Yarde 1679 [handwritten; 5th word sic]
Body Shape:
Viol
Current Location:
F
Paris
No. of Strings:
6
Collection:
Musée de la musique
Sound Holes:
C
Catalog Number:
E.979.2.68
Head:
Female
Private Owner:
Previous Owner:
Geneviève Thibault, Comtesse de Chambure, 1929-79; Mr. Warren, 1911- ; W.E. Hill & Sons, London, before 1904 to 1910
Measurements:
Body Length:
66.7
String Length:
68.4
Rib Depth:
11.3
Upper Width:
31.2
Middle Width:
23.3
Bottom Width:
37.8
Information
Source:
TGM visit 8/11; Bran-Ricci 1980, pp. 49-50; Museum to PT 9/79; restoration report by P. Jacquier, 1975
Literature:
MacCracken 2016, pp. 198-99; Gétreau 1996, p. 728; Vannes 1999, p. 281; Lütgendorff 1922, p. 387; van der Straeten 1910b, p. 360; Loan 1904, p. 152
Photographs:
On museum’s website (F+S, head side; front 7/8, back, head 3/4 [color]); MacCracken 2016, p. 199 (FB+S); Khazine 2004, p. 7 (front 3/4); Peters 1998, p. 366 (front 7/8, head side [color]); Bran-Ricci 1980, p. 50 (front); [by TGM: head B+S, tailpiece, table joints at bottom block, ornament details (table, 4 back, 2 sides of neck heel), label (color)]
Recordings:
Auctions:
Comments:
Bran-Ricci 1980: restored 1974-5 by Pierre Jaquier; neck and varnish modern; 7th string had been added in 18th C; other reworkings in 19th C; measurements 67.0, 31.0/22.3/38.0, 12.2, 69.0 (also on museum’s website). On display 8/02: elaborately inlaid fingerboard and tailpiece, simple table ornament; double purfling on front, single on back [website states the opposite]; central crenellated rectangle in center of back very similar to Lewis bass in same case). 3-piece table, 2-piece back. Jacquier 1975: much previous restoration at various times (some perhaps by Jacques Pierre Thibout in 1H19C, whose surname is written beneath the nut); neck as found was at least its 3rd. Comprehensive restoration, involving complete disassembly; all interior fittings new; fingerboard and tailpiece marquetry transferred to new foundations, and missing end portions replaced; dimensions 66.6, 31.4/23.0/38.0, 11.4, -. TGM: marquetry design matches MFA 8 (Meares I, 1677), LOAN 24 (Norman 1698), and METRO 11 (Lewis/Meares II, c. 1720). Gétreau 1996, p. 162: played in a concert of the Société de Musique d’Autrefois, April 1930.