Fan

Enormous, large-leafed flowers (peonies?) painted up to the edge of the fan leaf surround the central scene on the fan: two couples walking in the park of a chateau. Behind the figures is a two-storey, mansard-roofed, L-shaped chateau to the right is a formal garden with a fountain. On the hillside beyond the avenue of trees marking the end of the garden there is a row of houses the blue sky with clouds reddens as it meets the landscape. The two couples are attired contrastingly: the gentleman accompanying the pink-attired lady is wearing a blue coat, while the gentleman accompanying the blue-attired lady is wearing a red one. The ladies wear headgear characteristic of the period, fontange wigs, while the gentlemen wear allonge wigs. On the verso there are scattered floral and fruit motifs. In front on the sticks are two Chinese figures in a rowing boat in a cartouche of peacock feathers, flowers and leaves, while behind there is a Chinese figure kneeling beneath a sunshade. The sticks are unpainted, but the two guard-sticks have red, green and yellow coloration and are pierced through with small copper rivets (pique). In his study mentioned below Eva Koroknay tentatively attributed the sticks to the Parisian master Mariaual le Jeune (subsequently, in exhibition catalogues, he did so unequivocally). His attribution is questionable: the working and the depictions on the fan's sticks afford a very modest basis for comparison with works-chased, etched and coloured toy boxes (Inv. no. 4999-5001) signed by the master.