Description
A good French violin by Justin-Amedée Derazey, Mirecourt, circa 1870.
There are two important violin-making members of the Derazey family, Honoré (Jean-Joseph), who worked for Vuillaume between 1830 and 1839 before returning to Mirecourt and his son, Justin Amedée. Both oversaw workshops that produced a prolific number of fine instruments for the higher-class dealers in Paris. At their best, the work of Honoré is almost indistinguishable from that of Vuillaume, but as the century progressed the family looked towards mechanical processes and division of labour to produce a higher output. In their time, these were following the traditions established by Lupot, becoming essentially the minimum standard of instrument expected for students learning in the traditions of the Paris Conservatoire. As can be seen from photographs of this later examples by Amedée, the antiquing of the varnish is more formulaic, and this comes from a time when the French were experimenting with a slightly larger model which provides ample extra sound volume. Nevertheless it is a magnificent violin. Some of the Derazey family’s other enterprises extended into producing instruments according to older French styles, in particular they took over the patterns and trade-name of Didier-Nicolas L’Aine that had emerged with a strong individual style in the 1820s. In a similar vein, this is a departure from the normal attention to Vuillaume-inspired models of Stradivari, and is based on Parisian work of the deeply interconnected Lupot dynasty – there is a particular resemblance to …. Resultingly the maker of the violin has been rather difficult to identify, and it has been sold as the work of Pierre Sylvestre, whose label it erroneously bears, several times over in the last fifty years. This is certainly the most exciting instruments by Justin-Amedée Derazey that I have had the pleasure to experience, with an incredibly velvety tone and lively response that obliterates the many stereotypes applied to French violins.
Certificate: Benjamin Hebbert
Condition notes: The violin is in a good state of preservation.
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