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Folding fan with a mythological scene: M.72-2015

Object information

Current Location: In storage

Titles

Folding fan with a mythological scene

Maker(s)

Maker: Unknown

Entities

Categories

Description

Hand-painted vellum leaf, with an extensive mythological scene, depicting Flora and Zephyr sitting with four putti amongst rose trees. Above is Venus (?) sitting in a cloud. Behind, a tower with two statues and a fountain with a statue of two boys above it.
Backed mother-of-pearl stick,s gilt and carved with scenes of lovers presenting gifts and two busts of women. The sticks very like Parisian work.

Notes

History note: The Lennox Boyd Collection. Christies no. 75

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 1760

Note

This elaborate fan shows Flora (Roman goddess of flowers and spring) with her husband Zephyr (Roman god of the wind) seated amongst rose bushes attended by four putti. The carved and heavily gilded mother-of-pearl sticks have been backed with plaques of a finer type of mother-of-pearl known as burgo. Tarnish and corrosion was removed from the overlays using water containing an enzyme applied under magnification with a small cotton swab. Loose overlays were stabilised with a conservation adhesive.

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.

School or Style

French

Components of the work

Leaf composed of paper paint
Sticks composed of gilt mother-of-pearl

Related exhibitions

Identification numbers

Accession number: M.72-2015
Primary reference Number: 206712
Stable URI

Audit data

Created: Thursday 20 August 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

Citation for print

This record can be cited in the Harvard Bibliographic style using the text below:

The Fitzwilliam Museum (2024) "Folding fan with a mythological scene" Web page available at: https://collection.beta.fitz.ms/id/object/206712 Accessed: 2024-12-23 08:00:14

Citation for Wikipedia

To cite this record on Wikipedia you can use this code snippet:

{{cite web|url=https://collection.beta.fitz.ms/id/object/206712 |title=Folding fan with a mythological scene |author=The Fitzwilliam Museum|accessdate=2024-12-23 08:00:14|publisher=The University of Cambridge}}

API call for this record

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https://collection.beta.fitz.ms/api/v1/objects/object-206712

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