This great viola is part of the world famous string sound of the Philadelphia Orchestra. It made the arduous trek with the Orchestra on their recent tour in China and the far east and now needs some careful gluings ,varnish attention and a thorough going over to make sure all is well. This instrument has all the charm and style you look for in Carlo’s work The distinctive small,meager turns of the scroll and the narrowing peg box give real personality.On the back Carlo dresses up the plain maple with hand painted flames and saves time in the making by scratching on the purfling and you can see the remains his brand which depict the initials C A T in an eagle design that was the pattern of the sign in front of his shop in Milan of the second half of the 18th century 
The bold, openly cut F-hole shows him working rather quickly and the photo hints at the strong,robust arching that gives this viola such power . Also evident is the tight grained spruce with the typical clear, yellowish varnish for which the Testore family are justly renowned for. Taken all together it is a wonderful example of bold instrument making, made efficiently for working musicians by artistic hands with personal and local style with ,above all , real life in its grain
