{"meta":{"version":"2.1","_links":{"self":{"href":"https://api.vam.ac.uk/v2/object/O152117"},"collection_page":{"href":"https://collections.vam.ac.uk/item/O152117/"}},"images":null,"see_also":null},"record":{"systemNumber":"O152117","accessionNumber":"165-1882","objectType":"Violetta piccola","titles":[],"summaryDescription":"<i>Violetta piccola</i> was a term used to describe both a small version of the  violin and the five-stringed descant viol. This example has only four strings, like the violin, but steeply sloping 'shoulders' like certain 17th- and early 18th-century viols and <i>viole d'amore</i>. It has a broader body than a kit (see Museum no. 166-1872), but like that instrument it may have been used to help teach dancing. Or it may have served as the highest-pitched member of a consort (or ensemble) of viols.","physicalDescription":"'A small body with steeply sloped shoulders. The belly and the back overlap the sides as on a violin. Belly, with f-holes, has simulated purfling [bordering] in black paint and has been rather coarsely treated at some time so that the grain of the pie shows up markedly. The high-arched back of one piece of sycamore, with an old repair. The small pegbox with a simple scroll and four boxwood pegs.' \n\nTaken from Anthony Baines:  Catalogue of Musical Instruments in the Victoria and Albert Museum - Part II: Non-keyboard instruments. (London, 1998), p. 18.","artistMakerPerson":[{"name":{"text":"Unknown","id":"A1848"},"association":{"text":"","id":""},"note":""}],"artistMakerOrganisations":[],"artistMakerPeople":[],"materials":[{"text":"sycamore","id":"AAT12357"},{"text":"pine","id":"AAT12620"},{"text":"paint","id":"AAT15029"}],"techniques":[{"text":"planing","id":"AAT53863"},{"text":"carving","id":"AAT53149"},{"text":"joining","id":"AAT137062"},{"text":"painting","id":"x30598"}],"materialsAndTechniques":"Planed pine, planed and carved sycamore, with painted simulated purfling (bordering).","categories":[{"text":"Musical instruments","id":"THES48919"}],"styles":[],"collectionCode":{"text":"FWK","id":"THES48597"},"images":[],"imageResolution":"high","galleryLocations":[{"current":{"text":"002","id":"THES342019"},"free":"","case":"","shelf":"","box":""}],"partTypes":[[{"text":"Violetta Piccola","id":""}]],"contentWarnings":[{"apprise":"","note":""}],"placesOfOrigin":[{"place":{"text":"Italy","id":"x28927"},"association":{"text":"made","id":"x28654"},"note":"possibly"},{"place":{"text":"Germany","id":"x28873"},"association":{"text":"made","id":"x28654"},"note":"possibly"},{"place":{"text":"Austria","id":"x28728"},"association":{"text":"made","id":"x28654"},"note":"possibly"}],"productionDates":[{"date":{"text":"ca. 1700","earliest":"1695-01-01","latest":"1704-12-31"},"association":{"text":"made","id":"x28654"},"note":""}],"associatedObjects":[],"creditLine":"","dimensions":[{"dimension":"Length","value":"52.7","unit":"cm","qualifier":"","date":{"text":"","earliest":null,"latest":null},"part":"","note":""},{"dimension":"Length","value":"30.2","unit":"cm","qualifier":"","date":{"text":"","earliest":null,"latest":null},"part":"belly","note":""},{"dimension":"Depth","value":"3.75","unit":"cm","qualifier":"","date":{"text":"","earliest":null,"latest":null},"part":"","note":""}],"dimensionsNote":"Width of bouts 12, 7.5, 15cm\r\nString length 31.5cm\r\nFingerboard 25cm\r\nNut width 2cm","marksAndInscriptions":[],"objectHistory":"This instrument formed part of the collections of Carl Engel and was valued at £4, when acquired by the South Kensington Museum in 1882.","historicalContext":"","briefDescription":"German?, 1700-1800","bibliographicReferences":[{"reference":{"text":"","id":""},"details":"","free":"Catalogue of Musical Instruments in the Victoria and Albert Museum - Part II: Non-keyboard instruments. (London, 1998), p. 18.\n'This rather coarsely made instrument, to which the name <i>violetta piccola</i>, a term for a small viol mentioned in Praetorius, was given by Engel, is a kind of narrow-bodied three-quarter-size violin rather than a kit.'"}],"production":"Carl Engel, the previous owner, thought this instrument was 17th-century Italian, whereas Anthony Baines desicribed it as 'Eighteenth century' without assigning it to any particular country. A number of Viols and <i>viole d'amore</i> with steeply sloping 'shoulders' were made in Germany and Austria in the first half of the century, and this example may have been made there as well.","productionType":{"text":"","id":""},"contentDescription":"","contentPlaces":[],"associatedPlaces":[],"contentPerson":[],"associatedPerson":[],"contentOrganisations":[],"associatedOrganisations":[],"contentPeople":[],"associatedPeople":[],"contentEvents":[],"associatedEvents":[],"contentOthers":[],"contentConcepts":[],"contentLiteraryRefs":[],"galleryLabels":[],"partNumbers":["165-1882"],"accessionNumberNum":"165","accessionNumberPrefix":"","accessionYear":1882,"otherNumbers":[],"copyNumber":"","aspects":["WHOLE"],"assets":[],"recordModificationDate":"2025-04-18","recordCreationDate":"2008-04-04","availableToBook":true}}