Current Location: In storage
Titles
The Five Senses
Maker(s)
Maker:
Unknown
Entities
Categories
Description
Folding fan with five women who listen, look, taste and touch. In the background, a beehive is visible.
Paper leaf with hand coloured etching decorated with mother of pearl glitter, and mother of pearl spangles. On plain ivory sticks and carved and pierced ivory guards.
Notes
History note: Lennox Boyd Estate. Christie's no. 973
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 1740
Note
Sight, hearing, taste, smell, and touch are the five traditionally recognized methods of perception. It was common in Western art to portray these abstract concepts as women engaged in activities that used one or more of these senses. The leaf here is in a deteriorated state: it is torn and discoloured with brown spots, known as foxing, caused by mould or degrading foreign particles in the paper.
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.
Components of the work
Leaf
composed of
paper
spangles
Sticks
composed of
ivory
Guards
Related exhibitions
Identification numbers
Accession number: M.259-2015
Primary reference Number: 204826
Sale number: 973
Stable URI
Audit data
Created: Tuesday 28 July 2015
Updated: Tuesday 26 October 2021
Last processed: Wednesday 13 December 2023
Associated departments & institutions
Owner or interested party:
The Fitzwilliam Museum
Associated department:
Applied Arts
