Karel van der Meer
Bow maker / Violin maker
(fl. 1892 – 1920)
Violinist in the Concertgebouw Orchestra. Took up lutherie professionally from 1892. Appointed head of the violin department at the Nieuwe Muziekhandel on Leidsestraat, Amsterdam 1896. Established independently from 1899, also founding a branch in Arnhem, at 84 Steenstraat. Joined in partnership by Van Roosmalen and moved the Amsterdam business to Van Baerlestraat. This establishment became the centre of lutherie in the Netherlands in this period. Many craftsmen later to become influential in their own right started their career there: Max Möller, F. E. Schmidt, Josef Vedral, Johann Stliber, Lorenz Krubholz, and Eugène Eberle. This gives rise to some inconsistency in the actual instruments that bear the van der Meer label, but they are all of very fine professional quality. The Amsterdam shop closed 1920, but van der Meer moved to the nearby town of Bossum where he continued to work privately. Instruments mostly on Guarneri models, but other classically informed patterns used, with high quality varnish and materials. Bows made for the shop branded: N. V. D. N. M. (for N. V. De Nieuwe Muziekhandel), those by A. Krauss branded: KAREL VAN DER MEER, and those by A. Toussaint branded: K. V. D. MEER AMSTERDAM.
Price History
- The auction record for this maker is $8,091 in Nov 1994, for a cello.
- 79 auction price results.
View all auction prices for Karel van der Meer
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