Fan
DateLeaf: 1790-1810; Sticks: 1745-1760
OriginEngland
MediumPaper (Mount); Ivory (Sticks), Paint, Cardboard, Mother-of-Pearl (Rivet); Metal (Hinge)
DimensionsLength: 11 1/2"; Width (when Open): 20 1/2"
Credit LineMuseum Purchase
Object number1984-268
DescriptionFan with carved ivory sticks depicting chinoiserie designs of Chinese figures and structures. The fan guards are also carved in chinoiserie design, backed in black paper. The guard at the right is also embellished with small, inset black dots. The fan operates on a metal hinge with a mother-of-pearl rivet. The leaf is of printed and hand colored in design of a fortune teller with a child on her back telling the fortune of a seated girl next to a seated man. Another group of individuals (a seated man and woman and a boy walking by) looks on from the left of the fan. Another woman sits apart from the others to the right of center. A brown dog is depicted in between the center group and the woman at right. Their surroundings are depicted as a wooded area with a house in the background.
The reverse of the fan leaf is a painted watercolor of a suggested landscape with mountains in the background.
Construction History:
1. 1745-1760: Fan sticks were constructed
2. 1790-1810: Judging from nature of the print (printed and hand colored), the arrangement of the figures, and the costume of the individuals in the print, the leaf was constructed at a later date than the sticks.
3. The fan sticks and leaf were not originally intended to be a single unit and were instead married later in their lives.
4. Unknown Date: The fan was deconstructed and reconstructed with black backing on the fan guards, it is possible it was during this deconstruction that the left fan guard was replaced facing the wrong direction.
5. Several repairs (including one sewn on patch) are evident at the back of the fan.
MarkingsHandwritten label on separate piece of cardboard (See folder) reads "this fan belonged to Miss Evelyn Byrd, the daughter of Col. Willaim Byrd, westover, Virginia. It was used when she was presented at the court of King George |. Her portrait by Sir Godfrey Kneller presents a lovely girl of 16. girl of 16.
ProvenanceOriginal family history was that the fan was carried by Evelyn Byrd (d. 1737) of Westover for her presentation at the court of George 1. The leaf appears to date after 1790, while the sticks may be as early as 1745-1760.
