Fan with map of Nicaragua and part of Costa Rica: M.215-2015

Current Location: In storage

Titles

Fan with map of Nicaragua and part of Costa Rica

Maker(s)

Entities

Folding fan

Description

Folding fan with a map of Nicaragua and part of Costa Rica. Classical seascape border with french text. On the reverse is the Pacific Ocean, Asia, North America and text relating to exploration.
Paper leaves with hand coloured etched maps on plain wood sticks and guards.

Notes

History note: Schreiber/Cust pl. 28, no. 133 (SF81, 82) Lennox Boyd Estate. Christie's no. 371

Legal notes

Accepted by H. M. Government in lieu of inheritance tax from the Lennox Boyd Estate

Acquisition and important dates

Method of acquisition: Allocated (2015-04-27) by H.M. Government

Dating

18th Century
Production date: circa AD 1794

Note

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 was made to promote a never-realised project proposed by a Limoges nobleman Jean-Baptiste Martin de la Bastide (1760–1815) to build a trade canal that would connect the Atlantic Ocean with the Pacific through a network of rivers and lakes. A similar fan is in the Cooper Hewitt Museum and another in the Schreiber collection at the British Museum (accession number 1891,0713.208). The British Museum also has an unmounted leaf of the same design, as does the Bibliotheque Nationale, Paris. Another similar fan was sold on 15 November 2011, lot 11 in 'TRAVEL, ATLASES, MAPS & NATURAL HISTORY' at Sotheby's London.