Tennants Auctioneers
Lot 2029
Three Slender 18th Century Ivory Fans, framed together resulting in a very decorative item for display. The slender monture of the first fan mixes tortoiseshell with ivory in the gorge, those sticks in pairs. All sticks are carved, pierced and gilded, and further decorated with delicate painting in turquoise blue, featuring figures and flowers. The leaf features a central printed and hand coloured cartouche outlined in minute gold sequins, depicting a couple greeting a lady on the seashore, a rowing boat beached behind, the visitor on her knees with arms outstretched in supplication. The reserves are decorated with four small vignettes, two painted in strong blue, featuring a pair of white doves and domestic items, two painted in brown containing gold scrolling. Elsewhere the leaf is embroidered with scrolls of gold sequins, and finished with a painted border. The second fan is of carved and pierced ivory, figures featuring in an oval cartouche in the gorge and on the upper guard. A printed and hand coloured central cartouche features a classical couple embracing a white dove by their feet, the man possibly wearing a military tunic, suggesting Venus and Mars. The leaf, possibly of vellum, is relatively plain, with a decorative painted border, simple flowers and a scattering of iridescent highlights. The final fan, slightly larger, of carved, pierced and gilded ivory, shows a stone dock with a large and decorative wooden sailing boat berthed behind a young family, the male carrying weapons, the lady protecting a lidded urn, a further maiden to the side clearly in distress. The leaf, most likely mounted à l'anglaise, features flowers and scrolling to the reserves and a varied and detailed border painted in shades of pale blue. Guard lengths approx: Fan 1: 9 inches or 23cm Fan 2: 8 inches or 20cm Fan 3: 9.5 inches or 24cm. the fans have clearly been framed for many years resulting in some detriment to the leaves, which could perhaps be improved upon. However, the fans themselves do not appear to have been framed for reasons of prior damage, but do show normal evidence of age. Slight chipping to the frame/gilding/. Frame not opened for closer inspection.
