Heinrich Carl Knopf was an illustrious German

Germany

Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...

 Bogenmacher / Bowmaker.

He came from a dynasty of great makers. Studied bow making in Markneukirchen

Markneukirchen

Markneukirchen is a town in the Vogtlandkreis district, in the Free State of Saxony, Germany. It lies in between the Erzgebirge and the Fichtelgebirge in the Elstergebirge, southeast of Plauen, and northeast of Asch ....

 under Christian Knopf (his uncle).
Spent his journeyman's years in Leipzig working for Ludwig Bausch

Ludwig Bausch

Ludwig Christian August Bausch - an illustrious German Bogenmacher / Bow maker. He became known as the "German Tourte"....

. Upon his father's (Karl Wilhelm's) death returned to Markneukirchen where he became his successor.
He also supplied bows to many German shops such as Bausch, R. Weichold and the Russian Nicolaus Kittel

Nicolaus Kittel

Nicolaus Kittel, fully Nikolai Ferdinandovich Kittel was a Russian bow maker who until recently thought to be of German origin, and was known as the "Russian Tourte"....

.

"The bows (he) made for Kittel are quite different in style from the ones he supplied to the German shops."- Kenway Lee

"His bows are exquisite, showing mastery in technical as well as stylistic aspects. His son Heinrich Richard gen. Knopf (1860-1939) (known as Henry) became an excellent bow & violin maker who established what was to become a very important and successful shop in New York City (from 1879 -1931)."Gennady Filimonov