Pierre Simon Violin Bow, Paris circa 1860

Pierre Simon is one of the most revered of 19th century French makers. Here we have a beautiful example of his work, made for JB Vuillaume circa 1860.

Pierre Simon and Joseph Henry are the most dependable makers in the French 19th century pantheon. It’s fair to say that neither was much of an innovator, but they were consummate professionals who distilled the best elements from what was going on around them and produced supremely functional bows. Of the two, a Pierre Simon has the more distinctive head shape, not always beautiful or perfectly proportioned but somehow cheeky and charming.

This bow is made on the Vuillaume model with a rounded underslide set in a tracked and stopped channel, an undercut to the bottom edge of the frog and a slightly rounded button.

The stick is of round section orange-brown pernambuco with a strong random figure, mounts are silver and ebony.

The bow is in very good condition with little wear – there are two superficial cracks or open grain lines in the butt of the handle, otherwise nothing to report.

This bow is an archetypal Simon – strong without brittleness, smooth yet racy, with a thick buttery sound that retains a fine high frequency edge. Indeed the best compliment you can pay any bow is to say that it has nothing wrong with it, and that’s how I would describe this bow.

If you’re filleting a fish you need a sharp and perfectly balanced knife, and that’s what you have here – a tool that’s perfectly adapted to the task at hand.