Bass viol, sycamore body, subsequently converted into a 'cello, John Baker, Oxford, English, 1688.

"Belly of five pieces of pine, with double purfling [bordering] and a central device similar to those on the Meares viol (1/3). Back of three pieces of sycamore, double purfled with decorative loops. The body linings are of canvas. A later neck (secured from inside the body by a large wood screw) and scroll head in crude violoncello style. Plain modern tailpiece attached to hook-bar, and ebony fingerboard inlaid with light coloured wood. Ivory nut (width 4 cm). Four Ebony pegs" Anthony Baines, Catalogue of Musical Instruments in the Victoria and Albert Museum - Part II: Non-keyboard instruments (London, 1998), p. 4.

This instrument was formerly part of the collections of Carl Engel and was bought by the Museum for £6.

This bass viol is the only viol known to have been made by John Baker of Oxford. Baker may have been the son of a more famous Oxford-based viol maker, William Baker (ca 1648–1685). This instrument would originally have had six strings and formed part of an ensemble of differently pitched viols known as a 'consort of viols'. It was later fitted with a 'cello's neck, peg box and only four tuning pegs, and so it presumably ended up being played like a 'cello.

171-1882