Folding fan with ‘La Mort de M.r Malbrouk’ (‘The death of Mr Marlborough’): M.60-2015

Current Location: In storage

Titles

Folding fan with ‘La Mort de M.r Malbrouk’ (‘The death of Mr Marlborough’)

Maker(s)

Entities

Folding fan

Description

Paper leaf with a hand coloured etching, on the verso words and music. This fan records in words and pictures a French folk song that became popular during the early 1780s. It is a burlesque lament on the death of John Churchill, 1st Duke of Marlborough (1650–1722) who was wrongly thought to have died in battle in 1709.
Paper leaf with a hand-coloured etching, on plain wooden sticks. Guard stick with bone filet and upper edge.

Notes

History note: The Lennox Boyd Collection. Christies no. 50

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
Circa 1780 - Circa 1790

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 records in words and pictures a French folk song that became popular during the early 1780s. It is a burlesque lament on the death of John Churchill, 1st Duke of Marlborough (1650–1722) who was wrongly thought to have died in battle in 1709. The dark outlines surrounding the images contain high levels of copper and zinc, which have degraded over time and damaged the paper support.