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A Child's Fan: M.173-2015

Object information

Current Location: In storage

Titles

A Child's Fan

Maker(s)

Maker: Unknown

Entities

Categories

Description

Folding fan, depicting a boy and girl playing with a bird on a string, while the boy holds the bird cage.
Paper leaf with hand coloured etching and stipple on plain wooden sticks.

Notes

History note: Lennox Boyd Estate. Christie's no. 321

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

19th Century
Production date: circa AD 1805

Note

The shape of this fan, with a wide leaf and narrow gorge is typical of the early 19th century. Its small size indicates that it was made for a child. This is confirmed by the subject matter which shows a boy and girl playing with a birdcage and a bird on a string. The fan mimics the style of adults’ fans of the time, just as children’s clothes were often reduced versions of those of adults.

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.

Components of the work

Leaf composed of paper
Sticks composed of wood

Related exhibitions

Identification numbers

Accession number: M.173-2015
Primary reference Number: 204738
Sale number: 321
Stable URI

Audit data

Created: Monday 27 July 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) "A Child's Fan" Web page available at: https://data.fitzmuseum.cam.ac.uk/id/object/204738 Accessed: 2024-12-23 16:53:58

Citation for Wikipedia

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

{{cite web|url=https://data.fitzmuseum.cam.ac.uk/id/object/204738 |title=A Child's Fan |author=The Fitzwilliam Museum|accessdate=2024-12-23 16:53:58|publisher=The University of Cambridge}}

API call for this record

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-204738

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