Fan
Accessories
Inventory number
2019.5.23.8.AC.FA.C1860.FRDescription
Double paper leaf fan with a hand coloured fête galante, courtship party. The other side, printed in gold, represents a scene of three putti with a goat. Fan is mounted with 17 tortoiseshell sticks, the first is embellished with a silver monogram.The decoration is inspired by the work of Jean-Antoine WATTEAU, French painter, credited with inventing the genre of fêtes galantes, popular from 1715 until the 1770s, and depicting scenes of bucolic and idyllic charm, suffused with a theatrical air, which featured figures in ball dress or masquerade costumes disporting themselves amorously in parkland settings.
After the death of Louis XIV in 1715, the aristocrats of the French court abandoned the grandeur of Versailles for the more intimate townhouses of Paris where, elegantly attired, they could play and flirt and put on scenes from the Italian commedia dell'arte.
Materials
PaperTortoiseshell
Metal
Origin
circa 1860 FranceDimensions
Length : 45 cmHeight : 26 cm