The Court Fart

Versailles, 1687

Accession: FA.052
Medium: Game, sauce, silk
Duration: One second; immediately denied
Provenance: Attributed variously to eleven courtiers and one spaniel

The most socially sophisticated work in the collection. Produced in a room containing two hundred people, of whom one hundred and ninety-nine understood at once what had happened and none of whom could say so. The blame settled, as blame did at Versailles, on the least powerful party present. You are elegant, quick, and — the curators note this without judgement — not entirely to be trusted.

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Elsewhere in the Collection

The Neolithic Fart — Skara Brae, Orkney, c. 3100 BC
The Cathedral Fart — Chartres, 1194
The Reformation Fart — Wittenberg, 1517
The Trench Fart — Ypres, 1917
The Speakeasy Fart — Chicago, 1926
The Lunar Module Fart — In transit, 1969
The Open-Plan Fart — Palo Alto, 1998