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Royal Manchester College Of Music (RMCM)
1907

This is a division viol, made by Barak Norman - the premier luthier in England of the late 17th and early 18th century. At some point it was converted into cello - tailpiece and fingerboard brutally cut down - but partly re-converted since back into a division-viol (a division/variation of a violin similar to a cello). It is decorated with black ink and carvings, with flowers, leaves, climbing ivy, and a woman's head wearing a helmet with pointed visor and stylised ram's horns and foliage, with long hair carved down the back of the viol neck.
This item was given to the Royal Manchester College of Music by Charles Hughes in 1906.