Skip to main content

Folding fan: M.258-1985

Object information

Current Location: In storage

Maker(s)

Maker: Unknown

Entities

Categories

Description

Folding fan, double silk leaf, painted in bodycolour, stamped and decorated with sequins and leaves and flowers in green and gold. Sticks of carved and pierced tortoiseshell partly backed with painted and plain pieces of mother-of-pearl. Guards of carved and pierced tortoiseshell backed with imitation mother-of-pearl or mica (11+2). The design features three cartouches with men and women in period costume.

Folding fan, double silk leaf, painted in bodycolour, stamped and decorated with sequins and leaves and flowers in green and gold. Sticks of carved and pierced tortoiseshell partly backed with painted and plain pieces of mother-of-pearl. Guards of carved and pierced tortoiseshell backed with imitation mother-of-pearl or mica (11+2). Rivet of iron; washer of mother-of-pearl. Front: Three cartouches, bordered by two rows of sequins on a cream herringbone patterned background. In the central scene there are two ladies in contemporary dress, a gentleman sitting on a rock with a boy behind him and another man approaching from the left. Two circular sequin bordered medallions with landscapes flank the central cartouche. Between the medallions are floral sprays of stamped metal (and outside the circles in the other cartouches). Right and left edges have scrolling ornaments and green and gold applied metal pieces. The top edging is painted green, the lower one in brown. Back: The scenes from the front leaf have been traced. Sticks: two ladies are holding a fan, a cavalier offering a flower flanked by two little couples in a central cartouche formed by a ribbon. The ribbon has two loops on top right and left, with two coats of arms painted on mother-of-pearl. On either side of these, a putto is holding a frame with a mother-of-pearl panel, another putto sitting above a woman, and finally a stick with birds decorated with a garland of flowers. Guards: designed to complete the pattern of the sticks, the guards are decorated in a similar way: an oval with a vase and a winged putto with a garland sitting on top of the shoulder; on the bottom of the guard proper a basket sits in front of a building and above a sitting woman is playing with a dog. A bird, an open cage and swags of drapery form the top.

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

Acquisition and important dates

Method of acquisition: Bought (1985-01-28) by Countess of Rosse, Anne

Dating

18th Century, Late#
Production date: circa AD 1780

People, subjects and objects depicted

Components of the work

Leaf composed of sequins bodycolour silk
Rivet composed of iron
Sticks+guards composed of tortoise shell mother-of-pearl
Guards Length 25.5 cm

Identification numbers

Accession number: M.258-1985
Primary reference Number: 117843
Old catalogue number: DR 24/319
Stable URI

Audit data

Created: Saturday 6 August 2011 Updated: Wednesday 15 July 2020 Last processed: Thursday 7 December 2023

Associated departments & institutions

Owner or interested party: The Fitzwilliam Museum
Associated department: Applied Arts

Citation for print

This record can be cited in the Harvard Bibliographic style using the text below:

The Fitzwilliam Museum (2024) "Folding fan" Web page available at: https://collection.beta.fitz.ms/id/object/117843 Accessed: 2024-12-23 01:01:46

Citation for Wikipedia

To cite this record on Wikipedia you can use this code snippet:

{{cite web|url=https://collection.beta.fitz.ms/id/object/117843 |title=Folding fan |author=The Fitzwilliam Museum|accessdate=2024-12-23 01:01:46|publisher=The University of Cambridge}}

API call for this record

To call these data via our API (remember this needs to be authenticated) you can use this code snippet:

https://collection.beta.fitz.ms/api/v1/objects/object-117843

Sign up for updates

Updates about future exhibitions and displays, family activities, virtual events & news. You'll be the first to know...