String bows by Dominique Peccatte: The pinnacle of sound beauty

A champion with many talents

Dominique Peccatte was a French bow maker who lived and worked from 1810 to 1874. He is considered one of the most important masters of the 19th century and his bows are sought after by musicians and collectors alike today. Peccatte was born in Mirecourt, a small town in the Vosges. On the recommendation of Nicolas Vuillaume, a violin maker, he moved to Paris in 1826 and worked in the workshop of Nicolas's older brother Jean-Baptiste Vuillaume. There, under the guidance of Jean Pierre Marie Persoit, among others, he developed into a gifted bow maker. Around 1836, he left Jean-Baptiste Vuillaume's workshop to work for François Lupot. After Lupot's death in 1838, he took over his workshop, which marked the beginning of his best creative period. In 1847 he returned to Mirecourt, where he continued to dedicate himself to bow making and his second passion - growing wine. Over the course of his career, Peccatte combined his gift for bow making with a distinctive business sense, which earned him great recognition and success. Dominique Peccatte had a significant influence on the entire bow making process through his new style. In 1872 he resigned his craft and died two years later.

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Coveted matchbows

Peccatte is known for adapting the “hatchet” head - a model developed by the great master and “Stradivarius” of bow making François Xavier Tourte. Dominique Peccatte was a skilled and productive bow builder whose work was characterized by spontaneity, which meant that his bows were characterized by a high degree of individuality.

In general, Peccatte's masterpieces have the coveted characteristics of a bow: powerful elegance, speed, perfect aesthetics as well as flexibility and durability in the best symbiosis. The Peccatte bow is therefore considered an ideal combination in terms of sound production and handling. Or as musician Stefan Hersh once put it: “Although it doesn't show the complexity of a tourte bow in sound, a good Peccatte bow does everything it has to do very well and with a dense, rich sonority.”

Some of Dominique Peccatte's bows are marked “Vuillaume à Paris”, others are unstamped. A few of his bows are stamped with “Peccatte”. Numerous world-class musicians played and play with a string by Dominique Peccatte, including Leonidas Kavakos, Mischa Maisky, Pablo Ferrández, Janine Jansen, Christian Ferras and Arthur Grumiaux.

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Investing in the “top class”

It is well known that Stradivarius violins are traded at top prices. But bows are the actual “sound producer” and are known for their special handling, articulation and beauty of sound. The string bow is the musician's decisive connection to his instrument and therefore so much more than just a tool. It is not for nothing that the famous violinist Giovanni Battista Viotti once said: “Le violon, c'est l'archet” (“The violin, that is the bow”).

Due to high demand worldwide and the very limited supply of well-preserved specimens from well-known bow makers, the price level for bows has developed strongly in recent decades. For example, in 2017, a violin bow by François Xavier Tourte was auctioned off for the record sum of 576,600 euros - and thus exceeded the original estimate of 150,000 euros.

FINEXITY offers unique opportunities to invest in selected and special exhibits from Peccatte's best time and thus participate in potential value development. Thanks to the unique market access of a renowned partner in the field of high-class matchbows, FINEXITY has the opportunity to offer selected exhibits to private investors.

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