Possible France
Folk-crafted

Wood, gut strings
ca. Early 1900s
Length: 23.5 in; Body Length 14.15 in; Width: 8.25 in
Lutes – Violin Family – Folk Fiddle

This unusual trapezoidal violin was based on the 19th century design by French physicist and mathematician Félix Savart, called “Rationalised Violin”.  Savart used the acoustical theories of German scientist Ernst Chladn to build his 1819 experimental trapezoidal model violin.  Like the Savart model, this violin is built with a flat spruce top and back, a trapezoidal-shaped body and straight slot-shaped sound holes.  The neck is slightly angled backward to the alignment of the body and the corners are straight and not rounded.  Four gut strings are used.  Different from the Savart model, is the top and back edges of this violin are slightly projected over the maple sides.

As you can see, this is a much easier way to make a violin, however it did not replace the well-established violin shape at that time and found its way into folk music.

This fiddle came from the Fred Spector collection of Chicago (Lincoln Park), Illinois.  Fred played violin with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra for 47 years.

Resource: https://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/501569