Bacchus and Ariadne

This fan would have been a luxury item. The leaf is made of vellum, a type of specially prepared animal skin. It has been hand-painted very skilfully in subdued colours with the myth of Bacchus and Ariadne. The maker has applied additional decoration of cut straw and mother-of-pearl. These would have caught the light and make the fan glitter as the owner waved it to and fro.The ivory sticks are richly carved and pierced. The person who made this fan in the mid-1700s could have been French or English. Both the fan leaf and the sticks are of the highest quality, so it would have been a very expensive piece.