A
scroll is the decoratively carved end of the neck of certain
stringed instruments, mainly members of the
violin family. The scroll is typically carved in the shape of a
volute (a rolled-up spiral) according to a canonical pattern, although some violins are adorned with carved heads, human and animal. The quality of a scroll is one of the things used to judge the
luthier's skill. Instrument scrolls usually approximate a
logarithmic spiral. Although many references assert that the instrument scroll closely follows the
golden spiral (a specific form of the
logarithmic spiral) this assertion is demonstrably false.
Scrollwork is a common feature of
Baroque ornament, the period when string instrument design became essentially fixed.