Production: Unknown
Sticks of pierced and carved bone, painted, lacquered and decorated with steel sequins and spangles; guards of carved and pierced bone, painted and decorated with sequins. Pale beige textile ribbon. Rivet and washer of tin. Front: the central medallion shows a couple in 18th century dress looking at cupid holding an arrow and a wreath. On the right, a man with a hat is watching them; the background is of arches, columns and trees. There is an inscription below the cartouche, with busts underneath: 'il seront a leur tours courone Par L'amour'. On each side there is a cartouche with a vase at the top flanked by putti shooting arrows with an oval medallion and scrolls below. One stick on either side is missing. The top of each stick is decorated in different ways. From left to right, a goose, a rat, a bearded head flanked by scrolls, a rat, a bird, a salamander, a bird, a man with beard in profile, a dove turning to the right, a dove turning to the left, a fish, a woman in profile, a salamander, a bird, a rat, a bearded head flanked by scrolls and a salamander. Back: Undecorated. Guards: both guards are decorated in a similar way. The fan used to have a quizzing glass set at the rivet but this has gone and a metal piece was inserted; a scrolling S-shape is followed by a spray of leaves, and oval cartouche and a standing Cupid holding a wreath.
History note: Unknown before testator
C.B. Marlay Bequest
Method of acquisition: Bequeathed (1912) by Marlay, Charles Brinsley
19th Century, Early#
Production date:
circa
AD 1810
: possibly earlier, c. 1790
The inscription, ‘il seront a leur tours courone Par L’amour’, suggests that the fan celebrated an engagement or marriage. Brisé (broken) fans are made of overlapping blades held by a rivet at the base and connected by a ribbon or string near the upper edge. They were very popular in the first quarter of the 18th century and then went out of fashion. In the late 18th century their use revived and small brisé fans were fashionable throughout the early 19th century.
Ribbon
composed of
woven textile
( beige)
Sticks And Guards
composed of
sequins
( steel)
bone
paint
Guards
Length 16.3 cm
Leaf
Width 27.5 cm
Stick And Guards
Accession number: MAR.M.236-1912
Primary reference Number: 118052
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) "Brisé fan" Web page available at: https://data.fitzmuseum.cam.ac.uk/id/object/118052 Accessed: 2024-11-02 20:13:41
To cite this record on Wikipedia you can use this code snippet:
{{cite web|url=https://data.fitzmuseum.cam.ac.uk/id/object/118052
|title=Brisé fan
|author=The Fitzwilliam Museum|accessdate=2024-11-02 20:13:41|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-118052
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