Violoncello by Anton Posch
Vienna, ca. 1700

It is very rare to encounter a violoncello in the original dimensions. With a back of 81.1 cm, this violoncello is the largest in the collection, possibly the largest of all! As mentioned before, most large celli were cut down to the standard length of 75 cm. A fifth low string was added to the instrument, a GG or FF string (see the description in Praetorius, Syntagma Musicum, 1619), which allows the occasional playing of the 16’ range.

Body length	811 mm
Upper width	357 mm
Middle width	227 mm
Lower width	450 mm
Rib height	132 mm
String length	735 mm