Fan

This fan has elaborate decoration of panels of net inserted into the vellum leaf. The central scene reflects the influence of the paintings of François Boucher and Jean Honoré Fragonard. Two girls sit in a garden with rose trellis and lake behind, while Cupid aims his arrow at one of them. Such an idealised outdoor scene is typical of the pastoral views popular on 18th-century fans.

The ivory sticks are carved and painted, and the guards are articulated; that is, they each contain six portraits, and by sliding a thumb-piece show alternately either portraits of three girls or of three youths. Such fans with articulated sticks are extremely rare.