DHV:
757
Tourin ID:
ROM 5
Size:
Bass
Place Made:
Maker:
GB
London
Barak
Norman
Date:
1697
Label Text:
Barak Norman / at the Basse Viol / in St. Pauls Ally / London Fecit / 1697 [handwritten]; BN monogram in center of back
Body Shape:
Viol
Current Location:
CDN
Toronto, ON
No. of Strings:
6
Collection:
Royal Ontario Museum
Sound Holes:
C
Catalog Number:
913.4.30
Head:
Male
Private Owner:
Previous Owner:
R. S. Williams, Toronto, -1913; Edward John Payne, -1904 (?)
Measurements:
Body Length:
62.5
String Length:
65.6
Rib Depth:
11.4
Upper Width:
29.3
Middle Width:
21.6
Bottom Width:
35.035.2
Information
Source:
TGM visit 1/07; PT visit 10/78; Cselenyi 1971, pp. 14-5
Literature:
Hebbert 2001, pp. 293-94 (1697:1); Catch 1997, p. 132; Cselenyi 1971, pp. 14-5; Loan 1885, p. 33
Photographs:
Young 1980, p. 121 (front 3/4, back, detail of TP); Cselenyi 1971, pp. 14-5 (front 3/4, back, head 7/8, detail of FB+TP); [by TGM: FB+S, head FB+S and top, monogram (color)]
Recordings:
Auctions:
Comments:
3-piece table of poor-quality wood; middle piece wider than usual and not centered, with low arching and inked double purfling but no other ornamentation: not original. 2-piece back with double purfling. Very bad worm damage to ribs, though somewhat less on lower bass section which is an early replacement. Elaborately inlaid fingerboard and tailpiece; FB and neck have been narrowed (presumably for use as a cello), then widened (no frets when seen); TP has second row of 4 holes, behind original row of 6, and appears to have been shortened at top. Top block has 2 nail holes and is probably original, also the soundpost plate (which is overlapped by cloth edge linings; about 11 cm top to bottom, with lower edge located about 3 cm below body corner). Hebbert 2001: BL 62.0, WB 35.0; table noted as crude replacement. Back center has BN monogram, upper and lower Type II.