Amati > Makers Archive > Nicolas Leonard Tourte

Nicolas Leonard Tourte

Auction price history

Highest auction price

£31,424

Type	Details	Sold	Price
Viola Bow	Amourette stick, head and handle blemishes, otherwise good condition	June 2024	£5,471
Violin Bow	Silver mounted, later frog, button of the Fonclause school, head and mortice restorations, frog blemish	June 2024	£9,301
Cello Bow	78.5 g. Amourette	December 2011	£19,022
Cello Bow	Ivory 55.4 g. no hair or winding [In collaboration with "FranÃ§ois Xavierâ€]	March 2011	£4,743
Violin Bow	56 g. violin or viola bow, Exotic wood, no hair / winding (frog & button later)	December 2010	£3,314
Viola Bow	--/-- 63.5 g. (button later)	December 2010	£4,660
Violin Bow	S/E 54.5 g. frog & button made by "Persois", also with replica frog & button	April 2010	£21,997
Cello Bow	S/E 75.5 g.	April 2010	£31,424
Cello Bow	S/E 78 g. Paris [Ascribed to]	October 2009	£4,800
Violin Bow	51 g. without hair or winding	June 2009	£16,076
Violin Bow	S/E 58.5 g. [composite of two bows by same, grafted below wrapping]	March 2009	£11,700
Cello Bow	Ebony 80.4 g. Exotic wood (frog & button a copy)	November 2008	£3,593
Violin Bow	S/E 57.5 g. France, 1780 c. [Attributed to]	October 2008	£3,000
Violin Bow	S/E 54 g. Paris, 1790 c. (later frog) [Probably by & Lit: The Cooper Collection]	March 2008	£6,000
Violin Bow	S/E 50 g. without hair or winding (frog and button of "Voirin" school)	December 2007	£10,636
Cello Bow	S/E 74.5 g. Paris, 1785 c. [Probably by]	April 2007	£7,884
Violin Bow	S/E 54 g. Paris, 1790 c. [Probably by]	November 2006	£1,920
Violin Bow	S/E 57.5 g. [Ascribed to and possibly by]	May 2006	£9,198
Violin Bow	?/? 43.5 g. without hair or wrapping	December 2005	£4,789
Violin Bow	55.5 g. Exotic wood	December 2005	£5,188
Violin Bow	S/E 58.5 g. Frog by "Jacob Eury"	November 2005	£8,538
Violin Bow	S/E 57 g. (spliced under winding)	June 2005	£5,143
Violin Bow	S/E 53.5 g.	December 2004	£9,360
Violin Bow	S/E 60 g. (head spline)	October 2004	£1,262
Violin Bow	S/E 50 g. (minor blemishes)	December 2002	£12,387
Violin Bow	S/E 58 g. (later frog & button)	October 2002	£7,256

Biographies

John Dilworth

TOURTE, Nicolas Léonard Born 1746, d.c.1807 Paris France. Bow maker, known as Tourte l’ainé. Son and pupil of Nicolas Pierre Tourte, below. One of the first specialist bow makers known and the founder of the great French tradition of the archetier. Trained with his father from c.1756. Worked alone after his death in 1764, in the ‘Quinze Vingts Hospice’ area of Paris. He was successful, making bows in the various forms then fashionable, with straight and convex sticks, although already with screw adjusted frogs. His work became much more standardised after 1770, when the type of bow espoused by the virtuoso Wilhelm Cramer was widely taken up. Tourte changed his style to incorporate the higher, heavier head of the ‘Cramer’ bow. In 1780 Tourte moved to 3 Place de l’École, opposite the instrument shop of J-B.Salomon, and was joined by his brother François Xavier. However, shortly after this, the conditions of the Revolution and the following ‘reign of terror’ made existence very hard, and Nicolas Léonard seems to have gone into hiding. His career never fully recovered and François Xavier took the initiative in the development of the modern bow. The small number of surviving examples have round sticks of various tropical hardwoods, variable in length and form. The frogs at first are ‘open’ ivory, later of more modern form and in various materials. Examples held in the Musée de la Musique, Paris. Brand: TOURTE LAUX 15 VINGTS, TOURTE L, and TOURTE [Millant/Raffin]