'Set the font properties that control the text.  *fp* must be a
:class:`matplotlib.font_manager.FontProperties` object.
ACCEPTS: a :class:`matplotlib.font_manager.FontProperties` instance'

def set_fontproperties(self, fp):

    if isinstance(fp, six.string_types):
        fp = FontProperties(fp)
    self._fontproperties = fp.copy()
    self.stale = True
