Notes:

"The instrument remained in the de Bassompierre family for 200 years. The back is decorated with the coat-of-arms of Henry IV, King of France and Navaree, and the sides bear the inscription which, translated, reads "Henry IV, by grace of God, King of France and Navaree." The Latin inscription within the violin states that it was decorated by the most distinguished pupils of the maker."

Rare Old Violins (L&H 1922), Lyon & Healy Catalog of Rare Old Violins, 1922, Chicago

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This violin is part of the last documented set of Amati instruments made for the French royal court. It bears the armorials of King Henry IV. Its top was made by a French maker in the first half of the eighteenth century. An inscription on the inside of the back documents some of its nineteenth century history, including ownership by the prominent violinist Jean-Baptiste Cartier and repair by Nicholas Lupot. It is preserved with an eighteenth century French case with the royal fleurs de lys partially scratched out.

Written in black ink on inside of back: Pro henrici quarti Sacrario / Fecit hieronimus Amati anno 1595 / Primatii Pinzerunt alumni / Obtinuit Marescalcus Bassompierre / cujus annos bis centum Domus servavit / Tandem requisivit J. B. Cartier / e Sacrario Regis ludovici XVIII / et ejusdemacadiePrimus violinista / idem ad Carolum Gand alumnum / Nicolai Lupot Parisiis / factoris, restaurandi / causā commisit. [Made for the Chapel of Henry IV by Girolamo Amati in the year 1595. Decorated by his most distinguished pupils. Acquired by Marshal Bassompierre, whose house[hold] kept it for two hundred years. Finally, it was sought by J. B. Cartier from the Chapel of King Louis XVIII, of whose Academie he is first among the violinists. The same [Cartier] had brought it to Charles [Francois] Gand, pupil of violin [maker] Nicholas Lupot, in Paris, for repair.]

Brothers Amati violin; Shrine to Music Museum