Folding fan with a rope dancer
Maker: Unknown
Black gauze leaf, sequined to show a slack rope dancer, on plain wood sticks. Guard stick with bone filet, gilt sequins.
History note: The Lennox Boyd Collection. Christies no. 5.
Accepted by H.M. Government in lieu of inheritance tax from The Lennox Boyd Estate
Method of acquisition: Allocated (2015-04-27) by H.M. Government
19th Century
Circa
1790
-
Circa
1800
This fan forms part of the collection of the Hon. Christopher Lennox Boyd, allocated to the Museum by H.M. Government in lieu of inheritance tax in 2015. The collection of over 600 fans ranges in date from the 18th to the 20th centuries and in type from bejewelled and hand-painted court and wedding fans, to printed mass-produced advertising fans, aide-memoire fans, mourning fans and children’s fans.
This fan would have been particularly effective during evening events, when the sequins would have glittered to dazzling effect in candlelight, gaslight or moonlight. It may have been used at the theatre where rope-dancers performed alongside ladder-dancers, tumblers, strong men, and musicians. Fans of this kind were fashionable during the last decade of the 18th century, and were revived a century later, often using a heavier gauze.
Leaf
composed of
gauze
( black)
Sticks
composed of
wood
Guard Filet
composed of
bone
Accession number: M.29-2015
Primary reference Number: 204653
Stable URI
Owner or interested party:
The Fitzwilliam Museum
Associated department:
Applied Arts
This record can be cited in the Harvard Bibliographic style using the text below:
The Fitzwilliam Museum (2024) "Folding fan with a rope dancer" Web page available at: https://collection.beta.fitz.ms/id/object/204653 Accessed: 2024-12-23 04:22:31
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{{cite web|url=https://collection.beta.fitz.ms/id/object/204653
|title=Folding fan with a rope dancer
|author=The Fitzwilliam Museum|accessdate=2024-12-23 04:22:31|publisher=The
University of Cambridge}}
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