Folding Fan with Representation of the Gardens at Chiswick

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

In glorious condition, this fan is a vivid reminder of the expertise reached by British fan-makers only forty-eight years after Queen Anne had awarded her royal charter to incorporate London's Worshipful Company of Fan Makers. The finely carved sticks and guards of ivory are embellished with mica, gilding and paint, but it is the kidskin fan leaf which demands our attention. Figures in contemporary dress explore the gardens of Chiswick House, the highly-fashionable Roman style Palladian villa, completed in 1739, to the designs of Richard Boyle, 3rd Earl of Burlington, with William Kent. In an unusual touch, the fan-painter has included their initials, S.A., as well as the date, 1757, within the painted scene.

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