As The Hours Pass: A Highly Unusual Mid to Late 18th Century Mother-of-Pearl Fan, the heavy sticks carved, pierced and gilded, the upper guards wide and each containing a portrait within an oval, covered with glass. The gorge sticks are shaped and several contain figures. The double vellum leaf is divided on the recto into sections, the central section quite slim, painted with a youth playing a pipe, above which is an oval containing a portrait of a lady, covered with mica. To the right, a homely scene of a lady at rest seated on a chair with her feet on a footstool, reading, a serious looking young boy in front of the fireplace, being observed by a white cat. On the wall is an embossed foil panel containing a clock, time set at ten to midday. To the left, a lady dozing in her chair, ignoring perhaps the gentleman attempting to serenade her leaning in through the window. A similar clock is above her side table. The reserves are set with a foil urn and flowers, and embroidered with gold sequins. The verso is painted with a rather crude countryside scene, to the left a man looking out from a building wearing a rather unusual hat, a lady with similar headwear plus a veil to the right, some colourful ducks on a riverbank to the fore. Guard length 24cm