Citole, East Anglian, 1280-1330 period.
The British Museum citole is represented as the finest example of English medieval decorative woodworking. I was privileged to take part in studies on the instrument, focussing on my expertise in sixteenth-century violin making and its relationship to the belly of the instrument that was added in 1578. With the help of other instruments it was possible to firmly attribute the conversion to a violin to the Bassano brothers who came from Venice to London in 1538. Our conclusions form a chapter of the British Museum study on the instrument.
Connoissership at Oxford University.
For the academic world there are deep problems that arise from historic artefacts that are untethered from a record of provenance, and the violin is
