Fan

Of the sticks, which broaden towards the top, three are painted on one side and just one on the other side. All three sticks painted on one side bear the "marks" of the Crane family: a stork in flight with a scroll in its beak inscribed "Isten aid meg a magyart" = God bless the Hungarians by Walter Crane (1845—1915), rolling countryside by Lancelot Crane, and a country cottage with a topiary hedge by Lionel Crane (1876—1943). Each of the three sticks bears the monogram of the respective artist and his signature in pencil. On the sole stick painted on the other side, at the bottom, flies a naked female figure with butterfly wings from above a faun is peeping at her. The mark: Tull / 1910. A characteristic species of popular fan that could be painted as one wished, the type evolved at the artists' colony in Munich, with each stick being painted and signed by a different person. The Crane family visited Budapest in 1900, on the occasion of an exhibition of their work staged at the Museum of Applied Arts the fan was probably a souvenir of this.