Fine cello bow ascribed to Eugene Sartory

A cello bow with the same outstanding playing properties and acoustic qualities that make an authentic Sartory distinctive: this master cello bow from the 1920s is a perfect replica that probably originated from the W. E. Hill & Sons workshop and can fully hold its own against the great French master’s work.

The fluid and tranquil feeling this giold mounted cello bow communicates as it plays and its outstanding and inimitably French sound are the perfect manifestation of all of the features which distinguish the masterpieces of the famous French bow maker Eugène Sartory. In fact, it is such a perfect manifestation that in the 1980s this bow was deemed an authentic Sartory by no less an esteemed institution as the world-renowned auction house Sotheby‘s – despite it being the brilliant achievement of another master's hand. Crafted around 1920, this bow dates back to the period around the time Sartory's international fame reached its zenith and thus the time at which his work was most widely imitated. Unlike the majority of the pieces which were sold as Sartory bows, however, this cello bow reflects a profound knowledge of the work it was emulating as well as a personal mastery and professional experience which are reminiscent of the great contemporary masters of the art. We assume that this bow hails from one of the excellent bow makers who worked at the internationally esteemed London workshop of W. E. Hill & Sons. The round stick of the finest reddish-brown pernambuco weighs a pleasant 78 g; its balance point is positioned at exactly 25.3 cm measured from the end of the frog (including the button), and in playing it feels perfectly centred with a slight inclination towards the frog. This bow offers sophisticated professional musicians the ideal means for highly nuanced performance, allowing them to articulate both the most refined and detailed touches as well as dynamic and powerful passages. The active character of this bow encompasses warmth, precision and scope, opening up a broad palette of different interpretations. Given its musical properties, the bow’s top-tier gold fittings are the ideal complement: the frog of deep-black ebony has a greenish-white mother-of-pearl slide, a three-part button and Parisian eye, the elegance of which captures the quality of this fine Sartory-style bow with justified self-assurance.