A ballooning scene on a fan, c 1783.

Made:
1784 in France
artist:
Unattributed

One fan, in gilt frame, with carved ivory sticks. Painted scene showing Charles and Robert balloon. ht 28cm opening to 51cm.

A ballooning scene depicted on a fan made with carved ivory sticks. The painted scene, in a gilt frame, shows a Charles and Robert balloon floating in the background, with a man and a woman large in the foreground. Jacques Charles was a French professor of physics who launched the first free ascent of an unmaned hydrogen-filled balloon on 27th August 1783. Later, he and Robert became the first men to be carried aloft in a hydrogen balloon (in free flight) on 1st December 1783.

Details

Category:
Penn-Gaskell Collection
Object Number:
1946-120
Materials:
ivory
type:
fans (costume accessories), depictions, balloons and hot-air balloons
credit:
Penn-Gaskell Collection