Folding Fan with Representation of a Royal Fireworks Display

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

The spectacular firework display painted so finely on this fan perhaps commemorates the birth of the new Dauphin, Marie Antoinette's son Louis Joseph on October 22nd, 1781, alluded to by the French royal arms to the right and the dolphins in the center. In Paris at this period, fan-making was shared between two distinct guilds: the spectacular ivory guards, carved and embellished with mother-of-pearl and gilding, were conventionally the domain of male artisans, whilst the delicately painted leaves were created by women artists. In a triumph of collaborative design, the two elements match beautifully in this example.

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