Violas: circa 1790 1753 Carlo Landolfi 16 5/8" Viola

1753 Carlo Landolfi

$15,000

Beautiful Spruce Soundboard and Two Piece Highly Flamed Maple Back and Sides also there is a center stripe of maple 6.5 mm at the button and 14 mm at the endblock. This is well cleated inside. It is fully blocked and lined-the liners are 12 mm high (7 grains of spruce)on the back side and about 8 mm on the top side-going into the spruce blocks. The work of the grafted scroll and pegbox area is exquisite. Some old repaired cracks. It has a New set of Obligato Strings mounted on it. Rosewood Pegs, Ebony Fingerboard, Nut and Tailpiece-this has an unusual bone and metal 2 piece fret. Labeled 1753 Carlo Landolfi, but made in Bohemia between 1790-1820. This was played in the San Francisco Opera in the 1970s-1990s.

Great sounding instrument used in the churches of the late 18th and early 19th century. It has 1,000s of hours of tonal development and volume. It's as if you were 20 feet down into a cave. As it says on the label, it is a reproduction of a "Carolus Ferdinandus Landolphus fecit Mediolani in Via S. Mar garitae anno 1753" The 53 is handwritten-the previous text is printed. The label may be newer than the Viola.