Giovanni Paolo Maggini, Brescia, 1600, the 'Dumas Tenor'
Viola: 40414
Back: Two-piece with the curl slanting down from the center joint; double-purfled
Top: Two-piece, with strong close grain, widening towards the outsides; double-purfled
Ribs: cut on the slab
Varnish: Rich golden brown
Length of back: 42.45 cm
Upper bouts: 20.28 cm
Middle bouts: 13.18 cm
Lower bouts: 24.59 cm
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Notes:
"More spectacular was the mark-up on a rare viola by Giovanni Paulo Maggini, named the "Dumas" after its original owner. It was valued by Biddulph at £200,000 in 1992, even though he had in 1990 valued two lesser Maggini violas for another client at £300,000 and £400,000. Although the estate agreed to sell the Dumas to Howard Gottlieb for £200,000, instead James Warren bought it for that price, together with a Guarnieri violin for £150,000, after Gottlieb allegedly discovered flaws in the instruments.Although Biddulph claims to have doubted the authenticity of the scroll on the Dumas - doubts confirmed by WE Hill's recently published records - Warren had none, and promptly valued it at $1m, then consigned it to Bein & Fushi, who sold it as 'perfect' three months later for £750,000."
News, sport and opinion from the Guardian's US edition | The Guardian
One of the instruments exhibited in Brescia in June, 2007 at the "Gio Paolo Maggini Secoli di dettagli" exhibition.
Gio Paolo Maggini, Exhibition - Brescia, Italy, 2007
"The instrument maintains its original dimensions and all the characteristics of the violin making of Maggini.."
Liutai in Brescia: 1520-1724, Eric Blot, Liutai in Brescia: 1520-1724, Cremona
"As a specimen of Maggini's violas the Dumas instrument may confidently be pronounced unsurpassable. It will bear comparison with the finest violas of the other great makers."
Gio: Paolo Maggini: His Life and Work, Margaret L.Huggins, Margaret L.Huggins, Gio: Paolo Maggini: His Life & Work, London
Provenance
| Luigi Tarisio | |
| from 1840 | Pierre & Hippolyte Silvestre |
| Dumas Brothers | |
| until 1892 | W. E. Hill & Sons |
| from 1892 | John McGowan |
| until 1896 | W. E. Hill & Sons |
| from 1896 and in 1897 | Baron Johann Knoop |
| until 1918 | W. E. Hill & Sons |
| from 1918 | H. M. Dowson |
| Sold by W. E. Hill & Sons | |
| Ernest A. Sandeman | |
| until 1940 | W. E. Hill & Sons |
| ... | ... |
| from 1940 and in 1959 | Horace Egar Bowles |
| until 1958 | W. E. Hill & Sons |
| 1958-1992 | Gerald Segelman |
| in 1992 | Segelman Trust |
| in 1992 | Sold by James Warren |
| from 1992 | Anonymous |
| in 2007 | Current owner |
Certificates & Documents
- Dendrochronology report: John C. Topham, Surrey (2013) Dating the youngest tree ring to 1571.
Certificate: Bein & Fushi, Inc, Chicago, IL (1993) "The Viola is the best example by the maker that we have seen."- Certificate: W. E. Hill & Sons, London (1938)
- Certificate: Peter Biddulph, London
Cozio holds copies of many certificates and other documents, some of which are available to view on request. Please contact us if you wish to view a particular document. (Note that we do not always have permission to share documents.)
References
Gio Paolo Maggini, Exhibition - Brescia, Italy, 2007
Gio: Paolo Maggini in Brescia (exhibition catalog), nuovesettimanebaroche, Brescia (illustrated)- Gio: Paolo Maggini: His Life & Work, Margaret L.Huggins, W. E. Hill & Sons, London
- The Strad, November, 1972, London (illustrated)
- Liutai in Brescia: 1520-1724, Eric Blot, Eric Blot Edizioni, Cremona (illustrated)
- The Strad, June, 1994, John Dilworth, Orpheus, London (illustrated)
- Mr Black's Violins: The extraordinary obsession of Gerald Segelman, Andrew Hooker, Cozio Publishing, Boston (illustrated)
- News, sport and opinion from the Guardian's US edition | The Guardian
- The Strad, May, 1996, John Dilworth, Orpheus, London (illustrated)