Unfolding Pictures: The Lady Prendergast Fan, 1764

The Lady Prendergast Fan
1764
The Victoria & Albert Museum

With a leaf of kid leather, this gorgeous fan is painted on one side with a trompe l'oeil pattern of white lace, blue fabric and pink-striped ribbons. An oval frame in the center shows a vignette of a posh woman sitting in a garden has been expertly rendered. She is attended by a male servant who offers her a glass.


This sort of scene was fashionable during the Eighteenth Century and was considered an appropriate image for a genteel lady's fan. Other variations of the scene depict a tea party with a similar composition.