Bow Category: Violin

Emile Francois Ouchard, better known in the French bow world as Ouchard Pere (Ouchard the Father), was born in 1872 in Mirecourt, France.  At the age of 14 Emile Francois was apprenticed to Eugene Cuniot as a young bow maker.  Even though Cuniot died in 1910, Emile Francois stayed with the firm, assisting Cuniot’s widow with the business until 1922.  As a result, many of his bows are stamped Cuniot-Hury.  You will also find many of Emile Francois’s bows stamped with other violinmaker’s names as was the tradition in Mirecourt.  His son Emile Auguste started as a bow maker in 1913 and worked alongside the other workers in his father’s shop.  By the mid 1930’s there were 15 workers in the shop and in 1937 Emile Auguste bought out his father’s business.  From 1937 until his death in 1951, Emile Francois continued making beautiful bows in Mirecourt.

“L’Archet”-Millant & Raffin

Georges Emile Barjonnet was born in Mirecourt, France in 1903.  Son of a violinmaker, he and his brother became bowmakers.  Apprenticed with Cuniot-Hury he then went to work for Emile Francois Ouchard until 1937 when Emile Francois and Emile Auguste had a parting of the ways.  After working for Emile Auguste for a few years he hung out his own shingle in 1940 when E.A. Ouchard left for Paris.  WWII was not favorable to his business and he then went to work for Jerome Thibouville-Lamy until they closed their doors in 1969.  Georges Emile finished his career in 1980 having made some of his most beautiful bows for Roger Gerome.  As a result of this career, the vast majority of Barjonnet’s bows are stamped with various shop names and very few are actually branded with his name.