Violin by Matthew Hardie, Edinburgh, c.1815
£16,000
Matthew Hardie (1755-1826) - popularly known as the ‘Scottish Stradivari’ - apprenticed as a joiner, and following military service was established as a professional violin repairer by 1784. His own work is very fine, the Stradivari copies being very closely observed, beautifully made, and finely varnished, usually in a light orange-brown.