Friend carrying artist’s old sunshade (7)
I believe the answer is:
parasol
'sunshade' is the definition.
(I know that sunshade can be written as parasol)
'friend carrying artist's old' is the wordplay.
'friend' becomes 'pal' (pal can mean a friend).
'carrying' indicates putting letters inside.
'artist's' becomes 'ras' (Royal Academician's abbreviation).
'old' becomes 'o' (common abbreviation eg in OE for Old English).
'ras'+'o'='raso'
'pal' placed around 'raso' is 'PARASOL'.
(Other definitions for parasol that I've seen before include "Fair-weather umbrella" , "Small umberella for sun" , "for protection from the elements" , "cover" , "Sunshade" .)