Violin thumbnail 1
Violin thumbnail 2
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Image of Gallery in South Kensington
On display at V&A South Kensington
British Galleries, Room 54

Violin

ca. 1685 (made)
Artist/Maker
Place of origin

This violin would have been made for the Royal Household either late in the reign of Charles II (r. 1660-1685) or during the reign of James II (r. 1685-1688). The ornate carving on the back would have been highly fashionable at about this time, and it includes the Royal Stuart coat of arms before the royal arms were modified at the time of the accession of William III and Queen Mary in 1688.

This instrument has been attributed to Ralph Agutter, a London maker, who was active at this time. The neck and pegbox are very similar to those belonging to two Agutter violins in private collections, one of which is also carved on the back.


Object details

Categories
Object type
Materials and techniques
Carved, sawn and planed sycamore and pine
Brief description
Violin, carved sycamore (maple) back with royal arms, attributed to Ralph Agutter, English, 1680-85
Physical description
With finial of a carved woman's head, the back carved with scroll work and the royal shield of Great Britain and Ireland, with supporters.

The belly an early replacement (perhaps c.1700-20) of two pieces of pine, with un-nicked f-holes and simulated purfling (double stringing) in black paint. The back is one piece of maple (sycamore) carved with spiralling scroll-work in low relief, and two sections carved in deep relief: at the top the arms of England as borne by the Stuart monarchs from 1603 to 1688, and near the lower end a crouching or dancing figure tuning a lute. The neck, attached from inside the body by an iron nail, is set almost in line with the edges of the belly and has been slightly lengthened by a packing piece at the root, probably c.1700-20. The pegbox has slightly carved sides. The finial is in the form of a woman's head with laurel crown. Ebony tailpiece with scrolls carved in relief, and ebony fingerboard of less than modern length laid directly upon the neck without packing wedge. No label visible.
Dimensions
  • Total length: 58.5cm (Note: From Baines (cm): Length 58.5 ; belly 34. Depth 3.5. Width of bouts 16, 10.5, 20. String length about 32.7. Fingerboard 24.7.)
  • Body length: 34.5cm
  • Body depth: 3.8cm
  • Maximum width: 20.5cm
  • Total depth including strings depth: 10cm
Production typeUnique
Marks and inscriptions
  • [partly legible) HONI SOIT QUI MAL Y PENSE (Inscription; decoration; Medieval French; Capital; On the back of the instrument at the top of the body.; carving)
    Translation
    "Cursed be he thinks ill about it"
  • Partly legible: "MON DIEU ET MON DROIT" (Inscription; decoration; Medieval French; Capital; On the back of the instrument at the top of the body.)
    Translation
    My God and my Right
Gallery label
VIOLIN English; about 1680 Pine top and sides, sycamore back. Decorated with spiral scroll work and the royal arms of the Stuarts. The finial is in the form of a woman's head. Non-Keyboard Catalogue No.: 3/2 The instrument is not signed but a number of names have been suggested, the most likely being Thomas Urquhart, who worked at London Bridge between 1648 and 1680. The baroque style of decoration and Royal Stuart arms would indicate that the instrument was part of the household of Charles II or James II. Charles II is known to have preferred the "brisk and arie" sounds of the violin to the "contrapuntal fancies" of the viol. 34-1869(pre September 2000)
Object history
Bought from Miss E. Loveday Walker for £15, at which time it was said to have belonged to King James I. Art Referee report by Matthew Digby Wyatt, no. 22903 (27/6/1868) who noted 'As the Department has now formed a really good collection of ornamental musical instruments, but is deficient in violins exhibiting any attempts to combine art with sonority I should recommend this purchase at a lower price' [than the £26. 5s being asked].

Exhibited in gallery 40a from before 1989 to 2010
Exhibited 2009 in the V&A exhibition Baroque, 1620 - 1800. Style in the Age of Magnificence
L
ent on short loans 2012 and 2013

Conserved 2021: the bridges, pegs and strings replaced by Benjamin Hebbert

Production
This instrument has been attributed to Ralph Agutter, a London maker, who was active during the 1680s. The neck and pegbox of this instrument are very similar to two labelled Agutter violins in private collections, one of which has an ornately carved back.
Subjects depicted
Summary
This violin would have been made for the Royal Household either late in the reign of Charles II (r. 1660-1685) or during the reign of James II (r. 1685-1688). The ornate carving on the back would have been highly fashionable at about this time, and it includes the Royal Stuart coat of arms before the royal arms were modified at the time of the accession of William III and Queen Mary in 1688.

This instrument has been attributed to Ralph Agutter, a London maker, who was active at this time. The neck and pegbox are very similar to those belonging to two Agutter violins in private collections, one of which is also carved on the back.
Bibliographic references
  • John Dilworth: "Early English sophistication", The Strad , Vol. 110, No. 1307 (March 1999), pp. 264 - 271. Notes that the back is quarter sawn maple, and that the instrument has been well used; that the front is a replacement and the neck is original but refitted at a steeper angle with nail fixing, indicating an early modification, perhaps 1700-25; notes the design of f-holes matches instruments by Barak Norman c1704-15. Notes that the instrument follows a Cremonese pattern and describes it as having been made 'in the established English manner but to the latest Italian style'; suggests that the lack of a lion crest indicates a date before 1688. Attributes it to Ralph Agutter by similarities with two labelled instruments by Agutter made 1686 and after 1695 close analogies. Agutter was an instrument maker, music publisher and seller, who was recorded in the parish of St Martin's in the Fields 1680, and based in the Strand 1683-5. By 1707 he (or possibly his son of the same name) was active in Edinburgh.
  • London, Victoria & Albert Museum: Catalogue of Musical Instruments in the Victoria & Albert Museum. Part II, Anthony Baines: Non-keyboard instruments (London, 1998), p 16 3/2 VIOLIN. English; last third of the seventeenth century. Fig. 18. No label visible. Belly, later than the rest, of two pieces of pine, with un-nicked f-holes and simulated purfling in black paint. Back of one piece of sycamore carved with spiralling scroll-work in relief and a figure playing a lute near the lower end and the arms of England as borne by the Stuart monarchs from 1603 until 1707. The neck, attached from inside the body by an iron nail, is set almost in line with the edges of the belly and has been slightly lengthened by a packing piece at the root. The pegbox has slightly carved sides and a cherub below, carved in high relief. The finial is in the form of a woman's head with laurel crown. Ebony tailpiece with scrolls carved in relief, and ebony fingerboard of less than modern length laid directly upon the neck without packing wedge. Dimensions: Length 58.5 ; belly 34. Depth 3.5. Width of bouts 16, 10.5, 20. String length about 32.7. Fingerboard 24.7. Museum No.: 34-1869. It has been stated that this instrument belonged to King Charles II (1660-1685) or to James II (1685-1688). The royal arms do not indicate which, but the general style of the carved scrollwork is of the type in favour at that period, while the general quality of the instrument is also sufficiently high to allow the belief that it can once have belonged to the King of England.
  • LONDON, Victoria & Albert Museum, Michael Snodin and Nigel Llewellyn (eds.) Baroque, 1620 - 1800. Style in the Age of Magnificence. London, 2009, cat. 54, pl. 3.10 Violin, Attributed to Ralph Agutter (active 1670-1710), England, c.1685 Pine belly, sycamore back, sides and neck, and ebony fingerboard, h 58.5cm, w 20.5cm, d 3.8cm Carved with the royal arms and mottoes of the House of Stuart V&A: 34-1869 Bibliography Baines (1998), pp.16-17; Dilworth (1999) The back of this instrument is carved with an elaborate scroll pattern and emblazoned with the royal Stuart coat of arms used by Charles II and James II, indicating that it was made for the royal household some time before 1688, when William III added the lion crest. The peg box has a carved female head at the top and an amorino or cherub at the back. The base of the instrument is decorated with a female figure tuning a lute. The fingerboard may be original, but the tuning pegs and bridge are probably later replacements. Although the instrument bears no date or label, it is very similar to a violin made by Ralph Agutter (Private Collection) in 1686. Both have virtually identical peg boxes and carved head finials, and the 1686 violin has a narrow strip of carved flowers and cupids running along its back. A number of bowed instruments are decorated with inlay, but these two are among the very few with carved backs. Agutter's workshop was in the Strand, London, and only a short distance from Grinling Gibbons's establishment in Bow Street. Although the carving on this instrument cannot with any certainty be attributed to Gibbons or his workshop, it is characteristic of the highly elaborate scrolled patterns in which he excelled, especially in the interiors of Hampton Court Palace, Middlesex, and Petworth House, Sussex. (JY)
Collection
Accession number
34-1869

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Record createdMay 16, 2001
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