The Nippon Music Foundation instrument collection: quick facts

The Nippon Music Foundation, based in Japan, owns one of the world's most important collections of rare stringed instruments, including several celebrated Stradivari violins and cellos and a Guarneri 'del Gesù'. Rather than keep the instruments idle, the foundation lends them free of charge to outstanding musicians and ensembles around the world so that the public can continue to hear them in concert. It famously assembled the 'Paganini Quartet', a matched set of four Stradivari instruments — two violins, a viola, and a cello — that was the foundation's first acquisition. The foundation's model, holding instruments as cultural treasures and circulating them to players, has become an influential example of how the finest Stradivari are now stewarded by institutions rather than traded among private collectors.

Full the nippon music foundation page →

Sources: Tarisio — Cozio Archive of stringed instruments; Library of Congress — Stradivari instruments / Whittall Collection; The Metropolitan Museum of Art — musical instruments collection. Educational information only — not financial, investment, or appraisal advice. See our sources & fact-check policy.