DHV:
909
Tourin ID:
WHITT 1
Size:
Bass
Place Made:
Maker:
GB
London
Richard
Meares
Date:
1664
Label Text:
Richard Meares without / Bishops-gate, near to S[ir] / Paul Pinders, Londo[n] / Fecit 1664 [printed except 4]
Body Shape:
Viol
Current Location:
USA
New Haven, CT
No. of Strings:
7
Collection:
Yale University
Sound Holes:
C
Catalog Number:
4677.84
Head:
Female
Private Owner:
Previous Owner:
Martha Whittemore, Scarsdale, NY, 1931-84; W.E. Hill & Sons, London, -1931
Measurements:
Body Length:
66.8
String Length:
69.5
Rib Depth:
11.6
Upper Width:
30.4
Middle Width:
22.7
Bottom Width:
37
Information
Source:
A. Dipper restoration reports 2001-03; TGM visit 10/93
Literature:
Doherty 2011; Yale 2003, p. 1; JVdGSA 4 (1967): 47-9
Photographs:
On museum’s website (FB+S [color]); MacCracken 2016, p. 205 (back body only); Doherty 2011 [seen online) (front 3/4 [color]); Yale 2003, p. 1 (front, head 3/4); JVdGSA 4 (1967): 48-9 (FB+S, head 3/4); [unpublished, from museum: label (color)]; [by TGM: FB+S, head front, table ornament, label]
Recordings:
Auctions:
Comments:
7-piece table with central ornament; 2-piece back with large diamond pattern in middle, ovals above and below, and relief carving in V at neck; both with double purfling. Ribs largely unglued when seen and photographed in 10/93; date then read as 1693 [JVdGSA gave as 1683]. Pringle (from 1993 photos): head French, fingerboard by Hills. Restored by Andrew Dipper, 2001-03 (report seen at Yale, 4/04): new neck, fingerboard, tailpiece (in French style), hookbar, bridge, nut, and pegs; all joints separated and reglued; label cleaned (revealing correct date of 1664) and remounted. “Head by another maker, possibly N. Bertrand” had bad worm damage; 7th hole not used in previous setup but now included; new string length 69.5 (previously 66.6). Linings added for stability (originally made without any); small corner blocks probably added at time of original 7-string conversion, then larger ones in mid-19th C. Dimensions in inches (!): 27, 12.25/8.5/14.5, -, - = 68.6, 31.1/21.6/36.8, -, - cm. Tourin dimensions 120.7, 61.0, 30.4/-/36.5, 12.7, 66.4 (converted from JVdGSA’s inches).