Conservation of a hand fan from Dmitriy Shchukin’s collection

The Pushkin State Museum of Fine Arts presents one of the most prominent collections of European Modernist art encompassing the most important artistic trends of the late 19th and early 20th centuries at the exhibition “Shchukin. Biography of a Collection”. One of the items on display is a folding fan, the only one in the collection of Dmitriy Shchukin.

This hand fan belongs to a group of the best French designs of the first half of the 18th century. Its two-sided screen is painted with gallant scenes in the spirit of the French Rococo painter Antoine Watteau.

In preparation for the exhibition, the fan was restored: the parchment of its leaves was severely deformed, the guards were damaged, and the bone ribs were broken. The restoration was carried out with the support of the Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer company.

The exhibition “Shchukin. Biography of a Collection" will be held in the main building of the Pushkin State Museum from June 19 to September 15, 2019.