Unlabelled violin, possibly by George Wulne-Hudson, London

At first glance, this intriguing English violin looks like a genuine old Italian instrument, so convincing are the deliberately energetic, rough but controlled tool marks and the choice of materials, along with a certain “je ne sais quoi” character. George Wulme-Hudson, the early twentieth century London violin maker who very probably made this instrument, is deservedly accounted supreme – along with John Lott and the Voller brothers – in that accomplished but sometimes dubious English tradition of copying Italian Golden Age instruments which sometimes tip-toed over the border into fraud, intentional or not. The tone, like the making, is both refined and robust, with an exciting brilliance in the higher registers.