Folding Cabriolet Fan with Multiple Scenes of Performers, Landscapes, and Figures in Courtyard Gardens

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

Cabriolet fans like this one are distinguished by their multiple leaves, divided by arcs of exposed sticks. Set one above the other, they suggest the spoked wheels of "cabriolet" style horse drawn carriages. This fan is a spectacular example of Chinese work made to appeal to the European market: colorful painted scenes, with applied faces of ivory and real silk clothing, contrast with distinctive, wide, tortoiseshell sticks and guards, further decorated with golden lacquerwork: a procession of figures, floral posies, insects, tassels and masks.

European Sculpture and Decorative Arts

An exhibit at Metropolitan Museum of Art

The fifty thousand objects in the Museum's comprehensive and historically important collection of European sculpture and decorative arts reflect the development of a number of art forms in Western European countries from the early fifteenth through the early twentieth century. The holdings include sculpture in many sizes and media, woodwork and furniture, ceramics and glass, metalwork and jewelry, horological and mathematical instruments, and tapestries and textiles. Ceramics made in Asia for export to European markets and sculpture and decorative arts produced in Latin America during this period are also included among these works.

Metropolitan Museum of Art