The Chi-Mei Collection of Fine Violins

The world famous Chi-Mei Museum in Taiwan houses one of Asias most valuable collections of antique music instruments. During Stradivaris lifetime, fine violins usually passed quickly into the hands of the aristocracy, far out of reach of the general public. Towards the end of the 18th century, count Cozio di Salabue was perhaps one of the first to begin actively collecting these instruments for more serious study. The Chi-Mei Foundation began collecting violins in 1990 in order to further the study of golden age Italian instruments and to make these works of art more available to aspiring musicians. In this spirit, they have published this book with brilliant colour pictures (some to scale) of 15 instruments in their collection. Short biographies of each violins maker are also provided.