Klotz Family of Violin Makers
From the mid-1600s to the present, members of the Klotz (or Kloz) family have made violins in Mittenwald, Germany. Dictionaries of violin makers list more than 25 by this name.

Matthias I (1656-1743) founded the Mittenwald school of violin making after study with Jacob Stainer and Nicolo Amati.

Typical labels:

Mattias Klotz Geigenmacher zu Mittenwald an der Iser 1697 Mathias Klotz Lauten und Geigenmacher in Mittenwald an der Iser Anno 1695

Mathias Kloz Lautenmacher
in Mittenwalt Anno 1725

(Geigenmacher: violin maker; Lautenmacher: lute maker)

Instruments by Sebastian I (1696-1768) are probably the most admired among the many existing examples by this family.

Typical labels:

Sebastian Klotz in Mittenwald an der Iser 1734

Sebastian Kloz, in Mittenwald, an 1743

Seb. G. Kloz in Mittenwald, 1732

Joseph (1743-1819), son of Sebastian, worked in a manner similar to that of his father.

The quality of their instruments varies enormously, and many inferior, unauthentic examples have labels bearing the Klotz name.