18th century, fooleum, India, painting, primary source, watercolour
Another telling of the three-step trick (careful what you ask for, careful what you give), concerning the god Vishnu coming to earth as a dwarf Brahmin. This watercolour is glorious in its colours and details, down to the short, dark-skinned god-in-disguise....
18th century, Denmark, Europe, fooleum, historical figure, painting, portrait, primary source
This portrait of a jester at the Danish court brought to my attention a jester I hadn’t yet encountered elsewhere. The artist was German and was the Danish court painter from around 1719 onwards. The portrait was done in 1727 and shows the jester, Otto Kyhl,...
18th century, 19th century, carving, England, Europe, fooleum, primary source
These charming carved jesters’ heads are thought to have been used as signs for apothecaries. According to the Wellcome Collection, which owns both examples, before the widespread use of street address numbers, such signs would have been used to help people,...
18th century, dramatic character, Europe, German, Germany, play, primary source, quotes
Ludwig Tieck’s play Puss-in-Boots (1796) features a court scholar who in the king’s eyes has the same status and function as the jester, as he explains while hurling his sceptre at the scholar’s head: Sir Brazenbold of Scholarship! What presumption...
17th century, 18th century, bibliography, book, canon, China, Chinese, dramatic character, East Asia, historical figure, play, primary source
There are several plays featuring Dongfang Shuo 東方朔 (c. 160 – c. 93 BCE) as a jester. Apart from an anonymous and non-extant Ming dynasty variety play called simply Dongfang Shuo, there is a twenty act chuanqi play by Wu Dexiu 吾德修 (fl.c. 1692) entitled The...
18th century, England, Europe, historical figure, primary source, quotes, Stuart
Court account books in Europe provide a rich seam of information on the material care and remuneration paid to jesters. This entry, however, is the first I have seen which amounts to an IOU. The ‘late King William’ is clearly William III (better known as...
18th century, East Asia, fooleum, historical figure, Japan, painting, primary source
This is a personal favourite among many depictions available of Dongfang Shuo 東方朔 (c. 160 – c. 93 BCE), although it was created nearly 2,000 years after he lived. By an 18th-19th century Japanese artist, Torei Hijikata 土方稲嶺 (1741-1807), it conveys the energy...
18th century, Europe, France, French, historical figure, primary source, quotes, stories
Folly, as Shakespeare taught us, can be used as a stalking horse, providing useful cover so that you can launch arrows of wit or criticism without too much risk of reprisal. A number of jesters ‘faked’ folly the better to enjoy the freedoms it could...
