Before the advent of fashionable suntans in the 1930s a parasol was considered an essential summer accessory, frequently seen depicted in the magazine advertising of summer clothing. Probably more effectively decorative than practical, many sunshades of the 1920s were short and stubby, and boldly and brightly decorated. The cotton cover of this example has been hand painted in an amateur manner with a checkerboard of large blue squares and stylised flowers against planes of colour in a modern idiom influenced by the textile designs of the Wiener Werkstätte and the Parisian Atelier Martine. The metal ribbed frame beneath has tips coloured to match the cover, and at the base of the wooden stick the curved handle is decorated with pokerwork (its design burned into wood with a heated metal point) adding to the fashionable handcrafted character of the parasol.