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Violin

ca. 1685
On view at The Met Fifth Avenue in Gallery 684
Italy was not the only country that produced fine violins. Germany was the home of many fine makers, including Joachim Tielke of Hamburg. The workshop of Joachim Tielke produced a great variety of instruments (many were richly decorated with ivory, ebony, and tortoiseshell), including lutes, guitars, citterns, and violins. His violins typically have very delicate edgework and corners, pegboxes terminating in human or animal heads, and often bird's eye figured maple backs and sides. This violin retains its original neck, though it has been angled back and reshaped in conformance with modern playing requirements. The back and sides are of bird's-eye maple.

Description: Spruce top of medium grain, one-piece slab-cut back of birdseye maple, matching ribs, pegbox pierced and carved at rear with floral pattern, sides of pegbox and heel of neck carved with foliage on stippled ground, pegbox surmounted by female head, neck original but re-angled, ribs reduced in height, modern fingerboard and fittings and golden-brown varnish, stamped under top "W.E. Hill"

Artwork Details

Object Information
  • Title: Violin
  • Maker: Joachim Tielke (German, 1641–1719)
  • Date: ca. 1685
  • Geography: Hamburg, Germany
  • Culture: German
  • Medium: Spruce, maple
  • Dimensions: 23 1/4 × 7 15/16 × 3 1/2 in. (59.1 × 20.2 × 8.9 cm)
  • Classification: Chordophone-Bowed
  • Credit Line: Purchase, Clara Mertens Bequest, in memory of André Mertens, 1992
  • Object Number: 1992.333
  • Curatorial Department: Musical Instruments

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Violoncello Head, Joachim Tielke German, Maple, German
Violoncello Head
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ca. 1670–80
Cittern, Joachim Tielke German, Cypress, ivory, ebony, parchment, brass, German
Cittern
Joachim Tielke
ca. 1685
Guitar, Joachim Tielke German, Wood, ivory, ebony, German
Guitar
Joachim Tielke
ca. 1695–99
"Antonius" Violin, Antonio Stradivari Italian, Maple, spruce, ebony, Italian (Cremona)
"Antonius" Violin
Antonio Stradivari
1711
"Gould" Violin, Antonio Stradivari Italian, Maple, spruce, ebony, Italian (Cremona)
"Gould" Violin
Antonio Stradivari
1693

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