Yale’s Smart Gallery, Opulent Downton Show Worth a Trip
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Edwardian opulence was epitomized by a luxurious ostrich-feather fan presented to Mrs. James de Rothschild on her 1913 marriage into the banking dynasty.
To transform dung-spattered gray plumage into a fluffy, white objet d’art required numerous artisans in Jewish sweatshops, baths of acid, bleach and ammonia, plus diamonds, precious metal and hundreds of rare blond tortoise shells.