Featured Double Sided Spanish Fan with Panache - Help with estimated age?

I made an unsuccessful attempt to find it, using some of the words you supplied earlier to describe it. While I was poking around, I thought, Debora will find it.

 

I did give it a try but unsuccessful. Not a painting I know. (Didn't know the Fortuny either.)

Debora

 

Happy Independence Day, Luis, have a wonderful day.

 

Yes, fan leaf paintings were often (near) copies of existing paintings, etchings and sculptures.
Wonderful that you found the shop as well. I looked on google earth to see if it was still there (and hoping I may have bought a fan there on my travels through Madrid), but the building is now boarded up, grafitti on the boards, and covered with netting. So sad, I hope it will be restored.

Anyway, the fan was likely assembled in Madrid.
Although the Spanish imported beautifully carved fan frames (sticks and guards) from the Philippines, the decoration style and technique doesn't strike me as Filippino. Their fan frames are characterised by grouped geometric fretting, like this one with little groups of four holes:


This modern one copies the very classic Filippino fretwork panels:


Given the different style of carving, which is seen a lot in Europe, I think the fan frame could have been carved and decorated in France, maybe commissioned for a special Latin American customer of the Leyes shop.

There could have been a Mexican connection, the mother of pearl is so colourful it reminds me of white abalone, which is found off the Mexican Pacific coast, California as well. White abalone was exported to Europe.

 

As we're talking about fans, thought I'd post the others I could find on internet from Léon Yeves.

And, when visiting Madrid, the place to buy fans is Casa del Diego. They've been in business since 1823.

http://casadediego.info/en/

Debora

 

Spain had Caribbean colonies, especially Cuba - sticks might have been commissioned then shipped over, with the paper section added.

 

For those who are interested in the subject, here's an article about the Spanish fan industry.

http://www.allhandfans.com/handfans/levels/history_of_spanish_fans.htm

Debora

 

Cuba is an interesting idea. Although I don't know what the colony's gold- and silver-smithing capabilities were at the time, assume they were high. And tropical -- while much of México is not -- so the palm tree motif makes more sense. There was also lots and lots of new money there in the late 1800s. This fan wasn't an inexpensive item and it wasn't in the best of taste. (Ostentatious might describe it.) Richly painted two sides, instead of one, with one side having Fortuny's new, hugely-popular work. Sticks with an unusual amount of gold and silver work. They could certainly be a commission with portrait of owner in hammock. Just the kind of thing the newly rich would bring back from a trip across el charco.

Debora

 

You also have the fact that many Catalans, especially, went to Cuba (including Senor Bacardi!) and on returning to their homeland, spent serious money building houses. They're known as the Americanos. There was certainly serious commerce going on.

 

Palm trees are found in the subtropics as well. Even in the moderate zone, like where we are. I have seen them as far north as Ullapool, Scotland.
But the palm tree+hammock combination is not an everyday theme for Scotland.

Yes, they were. As far as I know, they were high in all Spanish colonies. Precious metal application is another technique, but no doubt there were good craftspeople for that as well.

Ostentatious is also a good term for Spanish fans and those made for the Spanish market. You needed a bit more oomph to make a fan stand out with the Spanish dress style.