Mast Fils Violin Dated 1827

Joseph Laurent Mast (1757-1840) is a French violin maker who apprenticed with Didier Nicolas at Mirecourt before he went to Toulouse and settled there at around 1807. He branded his violins with the inscription inside that says “Mast Fils Toulouse (date) in similar places. “Mast fils” because he is the son of the son of Jean Laurent Mast, a luthier established in Paris and Toulouse in the second half of the 18th century. “Fils” is a French word for son, he frequently signed his production "JL Mast in Paris" but since he and his father have the same initials he perhaps might have changed it to “Mast.