Folding fan: M.155-1985

Maker(s)

Maker: Unknown

Entities

• Folding fan

Categories

• Fans

Description

Folding fan, double paper leaf painted in watercolours and body colour. Sticks of cut and painted ivory pierced with applications of straw; guards of carved, pierced, cut and painted ivory with mother-of-pearl backing and applications of straw (20+2) Rivet of iron and washer of mother-of-pearl. The front has five scenes in cartouches, the back has one scene.

Folding fan, double paper leaf painted in watercolours and body colour. Sticks of cut and painted ivory pierced with applications of straw; guards of carved, pierced, cut and painted ivory with mother-of-pearl backing and applications of straw (20+2) Rivet of iron and washer of mother-of-pearl. Front: five scenes in cartouches bordered by scrolling gold frames on a pale blue background with sprays of roses and blue and pink stripes. The central scene has two women, one sitting, the other standing holding a hulot and a man kneeling on the right in front of a basket of flowers; in the background is an urn on a pedestal, trees and bushes, people and a building on the left, water and buildings on the right. In the extreme left cartouche is a shepherd sitting under a tree with a woman, his dog, a flock of sheep and a building to the left. The next cartouche shows a woman sitting on a bank under trees, a standing man, a man in a small boat and two houses in the background. In the cartouche on the extreme right, a woman is sitting in front of a drape hanging on a tree and a shepherd who is offering her a lamb; in the background a village and people working in a field and fishing. In the last cartouche, a shepherd, with his dog, is sitting on a bank playing a pipe; in the background two people in a boat and a village can be seen. The top is edged with gold paper, the left border painted with a gold line. Back: One scene with a woman sitting in front of a group of trees in the centre and a man playing the bagpipes, two women sitting on the ground with a basket of flowers; in the background one can see houses and trees. Sticks: there are two different designs placed in pairs. One design has a rectangular plate with applied square straw pieces flanked by blue, brown and gold dotted S-shapes. Two sticks of the other design form a flower flanked by the same wavy ornaments. Reverse undecorated. Guards: Both guards are decorated in a similar way. The head has raindrop-shaped pierced holes, which, together with the pierced holes in the stick, form a window when the fan is closed. The guard proper has diagonal stripes of applied straw squares alternating with flowers, a bagpipe and foliage.

Notes

History note: Colonel Leonard C. Messel (1872-1953); his daughter Anne, Countess of Rosse (1902-1992)

Legal notes

Purchased with a grant from the National Heritage Memorial Fund and a gift from The Friends of the Fitzwilliam Museum.