Folding fan: M.308-1985

Maker(s)

Maker: Unknown

Entities

• Folding fan

Categories

• Fans

Description

Folding fan, double paper leaf, painted in bodycolour and watercolour. Sticks of pierced, carved and painted ivory with chinoiseries; guards of pierced, carved and painted ivory with mother-of-pearl backed chinoiseries (18+2). Rivet set with green pastes. Front: three cartouches with men, women and a lake scene; back: woman in a landscape.

Folding fan, double paper leaf, painted in bodycolour and watercolour. Sticks of pierced, carved and painted ivory with chinoiseries; guards of pierced, carved and painted ivory with mother-of-pearl backed chinoiseries (18+2). Rivet set with green pastes. Front: The front leaf has three cartouches, bordered by gold and brown frames and decorated with flowers. In the large central cartouche, a man is holding up a woman's dog, sitting in front of a hut and a tree, holding the lead. To the right, a boy is fishing in a lake; in the background there is a woman and a man sitting with chickens. The flanking cartouches show landscapes with fishermen. The top edging is of a white paper ribbon; the bottom edging has a gold line. Back: a woman is standing in a landscape with two trees in the foreground and a fence in the background. Top, right and left, have borders of scrolling blue foliage with pink roses. Sticks: the scene on the sticks is carved symmetrically and has polychrome plants, buildings and Chinese figures. Below the scene there is a row of pierced hearts forming a window when the fan is closed. The first three sticks on each side have one stick at the bottom and two at the top, the next four have two on the bottom and three on the top, and the central four sticks have again one on the bottom and two on top. These changing elements form a very interesting pattern when the fan is closed. The head is decorated in a similar way and when the fan is closed forms circles on the bottom. Guards: both guards are decorated in a similar way. From the bottom to the top: two rectangular parallel piercing below the rivet, two above, a single rib, a heart shape, a hut and some leaves, tow ribs and foliage with a man with a sunshade sitting in the middle of the guard proper.

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