Here is an Amati from 1563 – the so-called King Charles – which has been decorated. It used to be fashionable to decorate violins like this. Even Guarneri and Stradivari decorated a few of their violins, though not many. You won’t find modern violin makers doing this. I knew a violinist who had a decorated Guarneri. I never saw it because he sold it way before I met him. He got drunk one day and sold it for $500. He had no idea the instrument was quite valuable. He just liked the way it sounded. This violin is decorated with figures of people and a corpulent floating angel. If you click on the photo, you might be able to see the drawings a little better. The decorations render the violin somewhat ugly. Experts are not even sure it’s by Amati, but the back of the violin has been attributed to Amati. Either way, I don’t like it.
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