A Violin from the ‘French Stradivarius’ with a Romantic Story is Up for Auction

On 3 June in Neuilly-sur-Seine, the Aguttes auction house will be auctioning a rare violin by luthier Jean-Baptiste Vuillaume, nicknamed the French Stradivarius. The instrument, made in Paris in 1871, belonged to the heirs of a family that emigrated to New Zealand at the end of the 19th century.

Jean-Baptiste Vuillaume, born in Mirecourt (Vosges), the French capital of violin making, is regarded as the greatest luthier of the 19th century, having set up his workshop in Paris in 1824. Fascinated by early Italian instruments, particularly those of the Cremona masters, whose exceptional properties he sought to match, he devoted a veritable cult to Bartolomeo Giuseppe Guarneri ‘del Gesù’ and Antonio Stradivari, to whom he owed his nickname.

And it is one of his finest creations, a violin made in the last years of his life in 1871, that will be offered for sale by the Instruments and Bows department of the Aguttes auction house in Neuilly-sur-Seine on Monday, 3 June from 2:30 pm. The violin is described by Hector Chemelle, head of the department and a former professional violinist himself, as “admirable in every way, with extremely meticulous workmanship, outstanding projection and a remarkably warm and powerful sound,” and in an excellent state of preservation.

The Vuillaume violin offered for sale is estimated at between £102,000 and £136,000. According to the auction catalogue, this Vuillaume violin is part of a fine family tradition. Given as a gift in the early 20th century to the music-loving wife of a prominent New Zealander, the instrument has been passed down from generation to generation and has been perfectly preserved by the descendants of Olive and Arthur Jonas Friedlander. This jewel of French instrumental heritage probably accompanied the emigration of the musician's parents from Scotland to New Zealand at the end of the 19th century.

Estimated at between £102,000 and £136,000, the Vuillaume, numbered 2831, will be the centerpiece of this sale of old instruments, which will also include a remarkable selection of bows from the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Some of these bows, signed Vigneron (père), Fétique, Maline, Ouchard, or Sartory, are estimated at between around £8,530 and over £17,000.