Folding fan: M.273-1985

Maker(s)

Maker: Unknown

Entities

• Folding fan

Categories

• Fans

Description

Folding fan, double paper leaf, painted in bodycolour. Sticks of pierced, carved and painted ivory, guards of carved and painted ivory (20+2) rivet of brass and washer of mother-of-pearl. Front: A woman on the left is carrying a basket and is watching fishermen in a bay. One is standing in his boat holding a net; further in the background there are two more boats, one under sail. Trees and a building on the left flank the scene. In the background there is the sea and sailing ships; on one side of the bay there are a few houses on the right. The top edging is of gold foil. Back: a central landscape with a tree, buildings and a fence. Sticks: the central cartouche shows a dancing couple flanked by two half cartouches with baskets of fruit. Below, under two rows of patterns, a column in the centre, a man is fishing between a tree, two shells on the left, and a fountain in the shape of a dolphin, with a fox and a crane by a well on the right. The lower part of the sticks is cut to resemble a column with zigzags above and below. When the fan is closed the sticks and guards form an interesting relief pattern. Guards: both guards are decorated in a similar way with a tulip and a bud on crosshatching on the shoulder and a dancing man in the middle of the guard proper with foliage on the bottom, and foliage and a jumping deer on the top.

Notes

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

Legal notes

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