Fan

This fan has a silk leaf embroidered with sequins and highly decorated sticks. These are typical features of fans of the 1780s. A prim young girl is seated with a large, rather untidy woman beside her, while two gentlemen shake hands. It represents a marriage scene, possibly of a bride and groom of different social backgrounds. In England, this was a very popular subject in 18th-century literature. It was the theme of Samuel Richardon’s novel Pamela, published in 1740, and plays such as David Garrick’s The Clandestine Marriage (1766).