Folding fan: M.148-1985

Maker(s)

Maker: Unknown

Entities

• Folding fan

Categories

• Fans

Description

Folding fan, single skin leaf painted in body colour. Sticks and guards of shaped, pierced and painted ivory; the latter backed with a red textile ribbon. Rivet set with clear pastes. The front is decorated with male and female figures including fishermen and a shepherdess; the back with a shadow-like man in a mountainous landscape.

Folding fan, single skin leaf painted in body colour. Sticks and guards of shaped, pierced and painted ivory; the latter backed with a red textile ribbon. Rivet set with clear pastes. Front: In the centre a woman is sitting on a stone holding a fishing rod with a bowl of water to her left; a man with a basket of fish on his shoulder is standing next to her on the right. On the left, a little cupid is coming out of the forest which conceals a small house; on the right, two men are fishing on the bank of a river and another fisherman is trying his luck on the other side in a boat. In the background there is a ruin on the right, a shepherdess with a flock of sheep in the middle and a mountainous landscape further back. The top left and right sides are bordered by different types and colours of flowers and leaves; the edgings are of a gold line. Back: a shadow-like man is walking in a landscape of trees and bushes in the foreground and hills and the background. There are brown scrolls above the scene and the corners of the leaf are similarly decorated. The remaining borders are decorated with large leaves and flowers. Sticks: three cartouches are firmed by wavy blue and white striped ribbons, the middle of which comprises a vine with black grapes, a basket of apples and plums, and a bird feeding its fledglings; on the left, a bee hive and on the right a sheep lying down. There is a row of blue and brown shapes below the cartouches and a row of pierced brown ornaments on top. Guards: both guards are decorated in a similar way with grapes on the shoulder, a bird sitting on a tree on the bottom of the guard proper, flowers and birds in and below a large scroll and a basket of fruit on the top.

Notes

History note: Colonel Leonard C. Messel (1872-1953); his daughter Anne, Countess of Rosse (1902-1992)

Legal notes

Purchaseed with a grant from the National Heritage Memorial Fund and a gift from The Friends of the Fitzwilliam Museum.