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The fan was a treasured objet d'art and an essential accoutrement of stately courts, where lustre was garnered by its passing from hand to hand. A fan (lot 325) from the Russian Imperial collection presents the theatrical work of the Parisian artist Andre Charles Voillemot (d.1893), whose related frontispiece illustration for Theodore de Banville's Odes funambulesques, 1857, appeared around the time he was involved in the decoration of the Fontainebleau theatre of Emperor Napoleon III, for whom he was later to decorate the Imperial Pavilion of the 1867 Exposition Universelle in Paris. Considerable interest is added to this little masterpiece by the fact that Queen Mary recorded the history of its succession from Empress Maria Fyodorovna (d.1928) to Queen Alexandra (d.1925), and then via her own collection to that of H.R.H. Princess Margaret. Likewise a masterpiece of the Devonshire lace-workers' art gains additional interest from Queen Mary having recorded that it once crossed the Atlantic for display at the 1904 Great Exhibition held at St. Louis (see lot 326). Other services rendered by such fans are brilliantly recorded in the lace of one that remains in the Royal Collection. While commemorating Queen Alexandra's 1903 visit to Ireland, it expresses the sentiment, in Irish: - 'I cool, I refresh, and I can keep secrets' (see Jane Roberts et al, Unfolding Pictures; Fans in the Royal Collection, London, 2005, p.11).

A FRENCH PAINTED FAN

CIRCA 1890

Details

A FRENCH PAINTED FAN
CIRCA 1890
Painted with a fête champêtre with a cupid attending signed CH-VOILLEMOT, the horn sticks piqué in gilt with a couple, the guard sticks with piqué putti (2 loose), some losses, the verso with various putti in cloudscape, signed M. Dumas
The sticks - 13 in. (33 cm.) long
Sold together with a note attached to the box in Queen Mary's hand 'Fan which belonged to Queen Alexandra given her by her sister Marie Empress of Russia - given to Princess Margaret of York by her grandmother Queen Mary, 1932', and with an indistinct note attached to the box in Queen Alexandra's hand

Provenance

Maria Fyodorovna of Denmark (Marie Sophie Frederikke Dagmar), later Empress of Russia (1847-1928).
Queen Alexandra (1844-1925).
Queen Mary (1867-1953).

Special notice

No VAT will be charged on the hammer price, but VAT at 15% will be added to the buyer's premium which is invoiced on a VAT inclusive basis.

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