November 2022 New York: Catalog Preview

The catalog for our November auction in New York goes online tomorrow, October 26th. There are some very exciting lots in the sale including the ‘ex-Perlman, Klausner’ Pietro Guarneri of Venice. The following is a preview of some highlights from the sale.

Lot 167 – Pietro Guarneri, Venice, c. 1750, ‘ex-Perlman, Klausner’

This violin was made by Pietro Guarneri in Venice in c. 1750. Pietro was the elder brother of Giuseppe Guarneri ‘del Gesù’ and left Cremona for Venice in around 1717. His influence on Venetian violinmaking changed the course of that school and created many masterpieces. This violin was purchased from Wurlitzers by Itzhak Perlman in 1959 and used by Perlman for the early part of his career. Prior to Perlman the violin was owned by Gustave Tinlot, a professor at Eastman and then by Millard Taylor, concertmaster of the Rochester Symphony. In 1998 it came into the possession of the acclaimed concertmaster, teacher and chamber musician, Tiberius Klausner.

Perlman wrote to Tibor Klausner in 1988, “I used this violin for many firsts in my career. I used it the first time I studied the Brahms Violin Concerto, for my first performance of the Glasunov at the Meadowmount Summer School, as well as for my first performance of the Debussy Quartet… I hope you enjoy it as much as I did.”

 

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Lot 166 – Nicolo Gagliano, Naples, c. 1758

 

This violin, from the apex of Neapolitan violinmaking, is made of stunning maple with broad, wide flame and a golden brown varnish and is sold with certificates from J & A Beare (1926) and Henry Werro (1954). This is the first time the violin has come for sale in nearly 70 years.

 

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Lot 152 – Emile Français, Paris, 1935, ‘ex-Menuhin’

 

Emile Français made this violin as an exact copy of the 1733 ‘Prince Khevenhüller’ Stradivari and presented it to Yehudi Menuhin on his nineteenth birthday. Interestingly, the original Stradivari was presented to Menuhin seven years earlier on his 12th birthday. In 1956 Menuhin gifted this violin to Paul Shapshak and in 1991 it was sold to David Sackson a violinist in the Phoenix String Quartet. For more information about Menuhin’s violins please read our Carteggio from 2016.

Emile Français and Yehudi Menuhin show off the 1733 Strad and Français's copy.

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Instruments by Lorenzo Storioni, Giofreddo Cappa, Giuseppe & Antonio Gagliano and Santo Serafin

Lot 165 - Giofreddo Cappa, Saluzzo, c. 1705

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20th century instruments by Francesco Bissolotti, Carl Becker & Son, Alfredo Contino, Sesto Rocchi and Gaetano Sgarabotto.

Lot 150 - Francesco Bissolatti, Cremona, 1954

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Early history of
the 'Heifetz, Piel'

In around 1876, Count de Chaponay sold the violin back to the Silvestres’ nephew, Hippolyte Chrétien who then sold it to the Englishman Henry Benjamin Merton together with an Amati violin for a total price of 5,000 Francs. 

We learn from Arthur Hill that Luigi Tarisio sold this violin in 1836 to Pierre and Hippolyte Silvestre, dealers in Lyon, for 1,500 Francs. The Silvestre brothers subsequently sold it to the Lyonese violinist, instrument collector and bibliophile, Count Alexandre-Henri de Chaponay. 

Merton brought this violin to London and consigned it for sale at Foster’s auction house together with the 1740 ‘Ysaye’ Guarneri and the 1690 ‘Payne’ Stradivari. 

William Ebsworth Hill bought the three violins at auction and sold the ‘Heifetz, Piel’ to John Clarke Crosthwaite McCaul (1831–1903), his friend and long-time customer. McCaul owned a number of other important instruments including an Amati violin, two Guadagnini violas and a Bergonzi. The ‘Heifetz, Piel’ was his most important acquisition and one of his last. 

In 1879 the violin came back to Hills and was subsequently sold to Edmund Janson, a city banker, who lived at Speldhurst, Kent. Upon his death in 1906, his son sold the violin to the J & A Beare firm in London who in turn sold it to Emil Hamma of Stuttgart. Two years later, Michael Piel purchased it from Hamma, possibly upon the advice of Louis Otto, a violinmaker and dealer from his native Düsseldorf. 

The Piel family are reported to have owned a number of other important instruments including an Amati and a Guarneri. Rudolf Piel and his older brother, Otto Andrew, are recorded as violinists. Rudolf studied at Philips Andover and then Harvard and Columbia Universities. 

Otto Andrew appears to have had a different career path that warrants further investigation. The 1910 United States census lists Michael Piel, his wife, eight children and six servants living in their home on West 72nd Street. Michael’s profession is given as “Brewer” and the only child with a profession listed was his twenty-four year-old son, Otto Andrew, who was listed as a “manufacturer of violins”.

The 1910 US census listed Michael Piel (brewer) with his eight children and six servants. Otto Andrew is listed as a “Manufacturer of Violins”.