LUTE by Bartoloméo EBERSPACHER in FLORENCE, XVIIth century.
Handwritten label: “BARTOLOMEO EBERSPACHER / in FIORENZA xx93”.
Because of the illegible first numbers of the date, we suppose it is 1693.
The body is made of 17 ivory ribs edged with ebony fillets.
Each rib goes on the neck until the pegbox. This one, ivory plated, is terminated with a scroll bearing the arms of the Medicis.
The ebony fingerboard is edged with ivory fillets.
Later spruce table with the original carved rosette representing the lion, the symbol of Florence.
Five courses tuned with ten ebony pegs. One replaced.
This instrument is preserved in its original case.
Total length: 75cm.
Soundboard length: 37,6cm.
Soundboard width: 20,7cm.
Sounding length: 54,4cm.
NB: A condition report has been made out.
Bartolomeo Eberspacher is one of the german makers, coming from Fussen region (Bavaria) and established in Italia between the 16th and the 17th century. He is pretty mysterious because the lack of period written documents about him. In 1968, Luisa Cervelli (see bibliography) notes that she could not find his name until now in the Medicis family archives, and also that he is not indexed as instrument maker of the city. She adds his work is known by the theorbo of the Heyer Collection, now in the Leipzig Museum (N°498, Kinsky catalogue) carrying on the example of which René Vannes reprints the label in his Universal Repertory of Musical Instrument Makers.
As regards the name Eberspacher, Giovanni Antionini speculates that it is one of the many alterations of the name Tieffenbrucker…
Nevertheless several instruments of this maker are repertoried as the one presented in our gallery, coming from the Charles Enel collection.
Bibliography: Luisa CERVELLI: “Brevi note sui Liutai Tedeschi attivi in Italia dal sec. XVI al XVIII”; Analecta Musicologica, Graz, 1968.
René VANNES: “Dictionnaire universel des luthiers”; Les amis de la musique, Bruxelles, ed 1979.
Giovanni ANTONIONI: “Dizionarion dei costruttori di strumenti a pizzico in Italia”; Turris editrice, Cremona, 1996.
{gallery}instruments/LUTHIVOIRE{/gallery}