A Violin Bow attributed to Pierre Sirjean

History of the Instrument

Scant information regarding Pierre Sirjean exists. We know is that he was born in 1765 in Mirecourt and died after 1820 in Paris and that he was a bow maker, the son of Charles Sirjean. Initially apprenticed as a violin maker, he began working as a bow maker in Paris around 1801. He was recorded at 14 rue de Fleurus in 1809, then at 31 rue de l’École in 1818, before returning to rue de Fleurus in 1820. Only two bows have been cautiously attributed to him, and as such, due to the lack of comparative examples, it is nearly impossible to certify examples by this maker.

This particular bow, however, bears documentation that attributes it to having been given as a gift to the great 19th century violinist and composer, Nicolo Paganini. When we compare this example against two other bows that we know to have belonged to Paganini (one by Peccatte and the other by Simon), all three bows share common elements. The frogs and buttons are all of carved ivory, and the image of Paganini, as conceived of in the form of a bronze by Jean-Pierre Dantan (1832), takes the place of the slide on the underside of the frog. The frog and button as exhibited here is attributed to having been the work of French sculptor Pierre Jean David (1788-1856) and the Carnival of Venice can be seen engraved on the ferrule, likely done by a pantograph engraving machine which was in common use during this time.