Unfolding Pictures: A Bejeweled Fan Depicting Bacchus and Ariadne, 1750

Fan Depicting Bacchus and Ariadne
Kid Leather Leaf: circa 1750
Gold, Diamonds, Emeralds, Pearls, Mother-of-Pearl
Silver Pin with diamond head.
The Royal Collection
Image Courtesy of Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II

The leaf of this fan—oil paint on kid leather—was painted circa 1750 and was traditionally described as a scene of the Christian warrior Rinaldo and the sorceress Armida. However, later, the scene was more appropriately interpreted as depicting the lovers Bacchus and Ariadne. According to Greek legend, the god Bacchus found Ariadne and immediately fell in love with her, proposing marriage. The fan’s leaf shows us his marriage proposal.


The fan originally was a gift from King William IV to his sister-in-law, the Duchess of Cambridge. After the Duchess’ death in 1889, the fan was bequeathed to her granddaughter, Princess Mary of Teck (later Queen Mary). The beautifully painted fan with its mother-of-pearl sticks was a favorite of Queen Mary who had new guards added to the fan in the early Nineteenth Century. The new guards were crafted of gold and were adorned with diamonds, emeralds and pearls.

Upon becoming “Queen Mary,” in 1910, Her Majesty allowed the fan to be copied in full color to be used in the Christmas issue of The Gentlewoman. Mounted copies of the fan leaf were handed out to diners at London’s posh Savoy Hotel on New Year’s Eve to mark the hotel’s twenty-first anniversary. The box for each fan included the message:

The fan presented is a facsimile of the famous ‘Rinaldo’ fan on which is depicted a scene in the story of Rinaldo in the garden of Armida. The original is in the collection of Her Majesty The Queen, who has very graciously granted special permission for its reproduction. With compliments of the Savoy, New Year’s Eve, 1910-1911.