Notes:

"By John Dilworth: This is an extremely fine example of the work of Domenico Montagnana, and bears an unusual authentic handwritten label dated 1723, stating his usual address 'sub titulo Cremona'. The date is early; there is little recorded work prior to 1720, and the maker seems to have been most prolific in the following two decades. Nevertheless it is stylistically fully developed, and there is little obvious debt to his master, Matteo Gofriller. The arching is low and full, not of the Stainer type evident in some Montagnana violins.

The back is made from a single piece of quarter-sawn maple which has a deep and regular narrow flame descending from left to right. The head is of similar stock, and the ribs show a rather broader flame. The front is of two matched pieces of spruce with very fine growth at the centre, broadening only a little at the edges. The strongly-modelled soundholes have distinctive Amatise features and are set quite low on the front. The stop length is not extreme however, and is presently set slightly short. The position of the soundholes and of their centre nicks is quite variable in Montagnana's work in general.

The whole instrument is extremely well covered with original varnish, which is deep textured and strongly tinted with red, fully characteristic of Montaganana's application.

It is an a very fine state of preservation, and was for many years the concert instrument of Josef Roisman of the Budapest Quartet."

Bromptons