A Game of Billiards
Maker: Unknown
Folding fan with double paper leaf, painted in bodycolour and gilt. Sticks of pierced and carved ivory; guards of carved ivory, the head strengthened with mother-of-pearl (17+2). Fan depicts a game of billiards.
Folding fan with double paper leaf, painted in bodycolour and gilt. Sticks of pierced and carved ivory; guards of carved ivory, the head strengthened with mother-of-pearl (17+2). Rivet set with clear paste. Front: Ladies and gentlemen in an outdoor setting with an ornamental building in the background. On the left, a lady curtseys to a gentleman who holds her right hand; in the middle, a lady holding a basket of flowers observes a gentleman presenting a posy to a lady seated beside a billiard table; on the right, a lady and gentleman are playing billiards. The ladies are wearing ornate mantuas. The upper edge has a border of pink, maroon and turquoise compartments painted in colours and gold with chinoiserie landscapes with flowers, oriental flowers and a fence, shells, and sprays of foliage. On the left side and lower edge there are narrow maroon borders with gilt ornament. Back: in the middle, a lady and gentleman are seated in a landscape. She has a book of music on her knee, and he holds a cane in his left hand. The upper edge has a border of compartments decorated with gold ornament on red, green, maroon grounds. Sticks: in the middle, a lady and gentleman are seated within a shaped cartouche with a diapered ground, framed by scrolls, surmounted by a bowl of fruit, and flanked by scrolling floral sprays. The reverse is undecorated. Guards: carved in low relief on a hatched ground, a bust, a sunflower, a peacock perching on a flower, a gentleman playing a viol and a shell. The reverse is undecorated.
History note: Colonel Leonard C. Messel (1872-1953); his daughter Anne, Countess of Rosse (1902-1992)
Purchased with a grant from the National Heritage Memorial Fund and a gift from the Friends of the Fitzwilliam Museum.
Width: 45.0 cm
Method of acquisition: Bought (1985-01-28) by Countess of Rosse, Anne
18th Century, Mid
Production date:
circa
AD 1740
: This fan was originally dated to 1720-30 but the mantuas worn by the ladies would suggest the fan to be of slightly later date. The sticks and guards may be earlier.
Rivet
composed of
paste
( clear)
Leaf
composed of
paper
( double)
bodycolour
( polychrome)
gold
Guards
composed of
mother-of-pearl
Length 29.6 cm
Sticks And Guards
composed of
ivory
Sticks
Accession number: M.1-1985
Primary reference Number: 117587
Old collection number: DR 27/356
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) "A Game of Billiards" Web page available at: https://data.fitzmuseum.cam.ac.uk/id/object/117587 Accessed: 2024-12-31 03:26:08
To cite this record on Wikipedia you can use this code snippet:
{{cite web|url=https://data.fitzmuseum.cam.ac.uk/id/object/117587
|title=A Game of Billiards
|author=The Fitzwilliam Museum|accessdate=2024-12-31 03:26:08|publisher=The
University of Cambridge}}
To call these data via our API (remember this needs to be authenticated) you can use this code snippet:
https://data.fitzmuseum.cam.ac.uk/api/v1/objects/object-117587
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