Fan leaf, Shakespeare's Seven Ages, Great Britain, 1796

This unmounted fan leaf depicts the seven ages of man as explained by Jaques to the Duke in Shakespeare's Seven Ages of Man speech in As You Like It , Act ll scene 7. Infancy, the School Boy, the Lover, the Soldier, the Justice, Old Age and a Second Childishness are each depicted in separate medallions.

Fan mounts like this would have been trimmed in a semi-circular shape below the publisher's name before being fixed to the sticks. It was published in 1796 by Sarah Ashton, a prominent publisher of fan leaves in the late18th century from her business in Little Britain, near St. Martin's Court, Covent Garden. She was admitted in 1770 into The Worshipful Company of Fan Makers and carried on the printing business after her husband's death. The design was by George Wilson who was part of a collective of 18th century fan makers with a business at 108, St. Martin's Lane.

His works were regularly entered and exhibited at Stationers' Hall and he collaborated with other engravers and printers who specialised in printing fan leaf designs, including the fan makers Cock, Joseph Read and Sarah Ashton. Ashton worked closely with Wilson in the publishing of several of his fan leaf designs. Sarah Ashton also published a female version of the Seven Ages, designed by George Wilson, an idea that presumably came from her. Being a female businesswoman was relatively unusual in the 18th century, and it seems unlikely than any male publisher would have conceived the notion.

Unmounted semi-circular fan leaf illustrated with a stipple engraving of Shakespeare's Seven Ages of Man, each age depicted in a separate oval medallion, separated by decorated cartouches of foliage with symbolic emblems of the relevant ages. Lettered title across centre top, with verses from As You Like I' beneath each medallion. Production line reads: 'Publish'd 1st. Jany. by Sarah Ashton. No. 28, Little Britain', left, and 'Entered at Stationer's Hall', right. Inscription beneath the central medallion inscription reads: G. Wilson, delt.'