Gabriel Huquier - Design for a hand-screen

Small hand-screens, mounted on a short handle, were used to protect the face from the heat and glare of an open fire. Their decoration exercised the inventive powers of many rococo artists. Here flowers, foliage, a shell and an insect have been combined into an asymmetrical, ornamental border. Between 1738 and 1749 Huquier published an engraving based on this watercolour.