Princess Mathilde

Fan with tortoiseshell sticks, one guard set with a gold and diamond crown and diamond monogram.

The skin leaf is painted on the recto in monochrome with two female figures in traditional dress; signed and dated Paul Jamin, 1884. The verso is lined with black taffeta and painted in gold with two griffins and a crowned 'M'.

This fan belonged to Princess Mathilde (1820-1904). Born in Trieste, Mathilde Laetitia Wilhelmine Bonaparte married Prince Anatole Demidoff of San Donato in 1840 - they separated four years later. Her Salon was one of the most important in Paris even after the fall of her cousin, the Emperor Napoleon III.

Jamin, Paul (French, 1853 – 1903)
Painter and Academician. He exhibited at the Paris Salon on numerous occasions throughout the Nineteenth Century and is known to have painted classical subjects.