Silvestre and Maucotel violin, Paris 1911

The Silvestre and Maucotel firm was founded in 1900 in Paris by violin-makers Hippolyte Chrétien Silvestre (b.1845, d.1913) and Ernest Maucotel (b.1867, d.1916). Hippolyte Chrétien Silvestre was the nephew of brothers Pierre and Hippolyte Silvestre, whom he worked for at their workshop in Lyon. In 1891, he asked Ernest Maucotel, who was then doing his apprenticeship under his uncle E.A Salzard in Moscow, to go back to France and join him in establishing their own atelier.

Their instruments are characterized by Italian influence such as Amati, and especially by Venitian masters such as Gofriller, Montagnana, and Sanctus Seraphin, according to the Universal Dictionary of Violin & Bow makers by William Henley. The two worked together until Hippolyte Chrétien Silvestre's death in 1913. After which, Ernest Maucotel recruited Paul Deschamp as an associate and then his partner at the firm, which was renamed to Maucotel & Deschamp.