his bow integrates features from a number of original eighteenth-century French and English bows studied by Philip Davis. It is fluted, and its nut is made of snakewood. As few bows for the pardessus de viole have survived, they are difficult to reproduce.

Pardessus de Viole Bow By Philip Davis Toronto, Ontario 1992 Snakewood, bone, horsehair 71.2 cm

     

Philip Davis

Philip Davis is a Toronto luthier and bow maker who, in addition to making instruments of the violin family and early stringed instruments, specializes in restoring period instruments. A guitarist by training, he studied sculpture and cabinetmaking at the Ontario College of Art in 1969. When he built a classical guitar as a course project, he discovered an activity that was an ideal blend of his interests.

Through instrument making, Davis has pursued fascinating research on the relationship between the form and function of an object. Between 1975 and 1978, he lived in London, where he studied the construction of period stringed instruments. He received two Canada Council grants and conducted intensive research on major European instrument collections. When he received his second grant in 1983, he studied in Germany for one year with master luthier and bow maker J.J. Schroeder. For the past twelve years, Philip Davis has given a course on stringed-instrument making, which he established at the Ontario College of Art.