This brisé fan, c1810-1820, is made of thinly sliced horn, the sticks identically pierced in a neoclassical pattern with guards to match. Six sticks in the center are left partially unpierced to allow painting of a small vignette, different on each side. This side shows a winter landscape with a house and two figures in the snow.
The other side shows a warmer sunny landscape with a castle or large estate, a young man punting on a river, with male and female figures standing on the shore.
The paintings are very charming, but not particularly fine, as compared to this ivory fan, and there is no other painted decoration. The sticks are threaded with a white silk ribbon, and held together by a brass rivet and washer.
As horn was a much less expensive material than ivory, and the painting here is rather simple, this was likely a relatively inexpensive fan.
