Directory

Directory
Lenght      cm. 25
Spread     cm. 45.5
Sticks        16 plus 2

France Directory 1795 – 1799
 White silk page decorated with silver and gold paillettes, fretted, and in the empty spaces, there’s a pearl filling.
The front’s decoration is limited to a rich embroidering with paillettes, while the  back is composed by a tight golden  net. The guards are interesting , they are lined with a red pearl to make the buhl work resalt.  When we talk of “revolutionary period”, we mean the years from 1789 to 1799; but just with the Directory, the typology of the fan changes in a very radical way: the measures are reduced, the materials for the pages are in tissue, silk, feathers of little exotic bird. Very rich embroideries with paillettes appear, after Robespierre’s death the rich middle class finds the love for luxury and ostentation. I would put this fan closer to the period of the 1^st Empire.
Historical notes:
revolutionary period:
1789, 3rd May, opening of the General States
1789, 17^th June proclamation of the General Assembly
1789 14^th July the storming of the Bastille
1789 26^th August Declaration of Men’s rights.
1791 3^rd September proclamation of the New Constitution by King Louis XVI
1792 10^th August attack to the Tuilleries, the real family is imprisoned in the Temple.
1793 January the King is beheaded
1793 June, committee of the Public Health guided by Robespierre, Marat, Saint-Just, period known as the Terror.
1794 28^th July condemnation to the guillotine of Robespierre
1795 September proclamation of the New Constitution which will see the birth of the Directory