Current Location: In storage
Maker(s)
Maker:
Unknown
Entities
Categories
Description
Double leaf of paper painted in bodycolour, silvered and gilt.
Gold paper binding on upper edge. Sticks and guards of mother-of-pearl (12+2), shaped, pierced, silvered and gilt; the sticks also backed by iridescent shell. Rivet set with clear pastes. Front: Painted overall with an idyllic pastoral scene. On the left, on the banks of a stream, a shepherd boy lies on his stomach turning his head towards the viewer. His crook lies on the ground beside him and behind him there are two sheep and bushes. In the middle a shepherd kneels to a shepherdess who is seated on the side of a monument or fountain. Cupid sits beside them, holding a dove and a boy peers at them from behind a tree. On the right, a boy plays the flute to a girl seated beside him on a bank. Borders of gold and red lines with flowers and foliage at intervals and a gold and silver hatching on the outer edges. Reverse: Painted overall with a landscape featuring an island in a lake or river. In the middle of it, a young man holds out an open cage to a lady seated on a bank beside a tree. Borders of pink flowers and foliage on all sides. Sticks: Each bears two oval medallions showing two different motifs, the lower row includes, male and female heads, probably of theatrical characters, theatrical trophies, and flaming urns, the upper row, fruit, female heads, ewers, cocks and a patera. At the bottom there are smaller motifs, including flowers, musical instruments and insects.Guards: On the lower part, a flower, a rabbit and a patera. On the upper part a trophy, a Pierrot and a half length male portrait in an oval frame (different on each guard).
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
The central figures were taken from one of a set of four engravings by Claude Duflos, le jeune (1700-86) 'Les Amours Pastorales', after Francois Boucher (1703-70). It was inscribed with a verse beginning 'Silvandre heureux amant, que rien ne t'inquiete'.
People, subjects and objects depicted
Components of the work
Leaf
composed of
paper
( gold)
bodycolour
Sticks
composed of
shell
( iridescent)
Sticks+guards
composed of
mother-of-pearl
Guards
Length 27.0 cm
References and bibliographic entries
Identification numbers
Accession number: M.327-1985
Primary reference Number: 117912
Old catalogue number: DR 30/394
Stable URI
Audit data
Created: Saturday 6 August 2011
Updated: Wednesday 15 July 2020
Last processed: Wednesday 13 December 2023
Associated departments & institutions
Owner or interested party:
The Fitzwilliam Museum
Associated department:
Applied Arts
