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Title: History of the Fan
Author: Rhead, George Woolliscroft
Language: English
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*** Start of this LibraryBlog Digital Book "History of the Fan" ***
HISTORY OF THE FAN
_This edition is limited to 450 copies for sale in Europe and the
British Dominions, of which this is No. 93._
[Illustration: Rinaldo in the garden of Armida, Louis XV. skin mount,
stick mother of pearl, guards jewelled, given by King William IV to
Augusta, Duchess of Cambridge & left by her to her grand-daughter
Victoria Mary.
H.R.H. the Princess of Wales.]
HISTORY OF
THE FAN
BY G. WOOLLISCROFT RHEAD
R.E.; HON. A.R.C.A. LOND.; AUTHOR OF ‘THE PRINCIPLES
OF DESIGN’; ‘A HANDBOOK OF ETCHING’; ‘THE TREATMENT
OF DRAPERY IN ART’; ‘STUDIES IN PLANT FORM’;
‘CHATS ON COSTUME,’ ETC.; JOINT AUTHOR OF
‘STAFFORDSHIRE POTS AND POTTERS’;
‘BRITISH POTTERY MARKS’
[Illustration]
LONDON
KEGAN PAUL, TRENCH, TRÜBNER & CO. LTD.
DRYDEN HOUSE, GERRARD STREET, W.
1910
Edinburgh: T. and A. CONSTABLE, Printers to His Majesty
DEDICATED
(BY GRACIOUS PERMISSION)
TO
HER ROYAL HIGHNESS THE PRINCESS OF WALES
PUBLISHERS’ NOTE
The majority of the blocks in this work were made direct from the
actual Fans by Messrs. JOHN SWAIN AND SONS, to whom the Publishers are
indebted for the skill and ingenuity with which they have overcome
the many special difficulties incidental not only to the subjects
themselves, but to the conditions under which many of those in private
houses had to be reproduced.
The Colour Plates are printed by Messrs. EDMUND EVANS.
The block of the Fan Mount by ROSA BONHEUR was made by Mr. F. JENKINS
in Paris.
The block of the Japanese Fan Mount, _The Tamagawa River_, is by the
GROUT ENGRAVING COMPANY.
The lithograph of _Bacchus and Ariadne_ is by Messrs. MARTIN, HOOD AND
LARKIN.
PREFACE
[Illustration]
It is, perhaps, a little singular that up to the present no work
making any pretension to completeness has appeared in English dealing
with that little instrument so intimately associated with both civil
and religious life of the past, the Fan. Even on the Continent
the literature of the Fan is exceedingly scanty. M. Blondel’s
work, _Histoire des Éventails_, published in 1875, is but sparsely
illustrated, and is mainly based upon the researches of M. Natalis
Rondot, whose _Rapport sur les objets de Parure_ was undertaken at the
instance of the French Government in 1854. An English translation of M.
Octave Uzanne’s brilliant sketch appeared in 1884, and is unillustrated
except by fanciful border designs; while Lady Charlotte Schreiber’s
stately tomes and Mrs. Salwey’s _Fans of Japan_ deal only with more
or less isolated portions of the subject. These, together with _Der
Fächer_, by Georg Buss, appearing in 1904, one or two illustrated
catalogues and a few desultory magazine articles, form the sum-total of
the Fan’s literature. This paucity of book material, and the general
absence of information amongst individuals, is at once an advantage
and a disadvantage. I have in dealing with this subject such benefits
as the breaking of new ground gives; I have at the same time to
contend with the difficulty of collecting information from sources so
scattered, and in many instances so obscure.
To the works above mentioned, which indeed have been most helpful,
it is only justice to add the admirable article on ‘Les Disques
crucifères, le Flabellum, et l’Umbella,’ in _La Revue de l’Art
Chrétien_, by M. Charles de Linas; the sparkling and entertaining
‘History on Fans’ by Henri Bouchot in _Art and Letters_ for 1883; an
excellent article on Chinese Fans by H. A. Giles in _Fraser’s Magazine_
for May 1879; articles in various publications by MM. Paul Mantz and
Charles Blanc; all these I have freely used, and gladly acknowledge my
indebtedness.
But, since it is scarcely possible, in a subject covering such an
extended area, to avoid inaccuracies of some sort, I must endeavour
to forestall any possible criticism by saying that no pains have been
spared to render the book as free from errors as may be. As to the line
illustrations, they must be considered merely diagrammatic, and not in
any sense realistic representations of the various objects.
I welcome this opportunity of making what is an unusually long list of
acknowledgments of help received. Firstly, to my Publishers for their
enterprise, the admirable manner in which the book is produced, and for
their uniform courtesy. Secondly, to the many owners of fans, these
including the most exalted personages, who have so generously responded
to my invitation to lend their fragile treasures.
My thanks are also due to the officials of the various Museums, those
of the Print Room of the British, and the National Art Library,
Victoria and Albert Museums; to Sir C. Purdon Clarke, C.I.E., F.S.A.,
and his son, Mr. Stanley Clarke of the India Museum; Dr. Peter Jessen
of the Kunstgewerbe Museum, Berlin; Professor Pazaurek, Stuttgart;
Dr. Hans W. Singer; to Sir George Birdwood, K.C.I.E., C.S.I., who
has kindly read the three chapters on ancient fans; to Professor W.
M. Flinders Petrie, D.C.L.; Mr. W. Holman Hunt, O.M., R.W.S.; Sir L.
Alma-Tadema, O.M., R.A.; the Rev. J. Foster, D.C.L.; the Clerk of
the Worshipful Company of Fanmakers; the Librarian at Welbeck; Mr.
Wilson Crewdson; Mr. W. Harding Smith; Mr. W. L. Behrens; Mr. R. Phené
Spiers; Mr. G. F. Clausen; Mr. J. Ettlinger; Mons. J. Duvelleroy; Mr.
H. Granville Fell; Mr. Frank Brangwyn, A.R.A.; Mr. Talbot Hughes;
Mr. Frank Falkner, for help in various ways; and last, though by no
means least, to Mrs. E. P. Medley, for most valuable assistance in
translation.
LONDON, 1909. G. WOOLLISCROFT RHEAD.
CONTENTS
PAGE
PREFACE ix
LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS xiii
CHAPTER I
THE ORIGIN AND USES OF THE FAN 1
CHAPTER II
FANS OF THE ANCIENTS 10
CHAPTER III
FANS OF THE FAR EAST 33
CHAPTER IV
FANS OF PRIMITIVE PEOPLES 77
CHAPTER V
THE FLABELLUM AND EARLY FEATHER-FAN 87
CHAPTER VI
PAINTED FANS OF THE SEVENTEENTH AND EIGHTEENTH
CENTURIES (ITALIAN AND SPANISH) 107
CHAPTER VII
PAINTED FANS OF THE SEVENTEENTH AND EIGHTEENTH
CENTURIES (FRENCH) 138
CHAPTER VIII
PAINTED FANS OF THE SEVENTEENTH AND EIGHTEENTH
CENTURIES (ENGLISH, DUTCH, FLEMISH, AND GERMAN) 176
CHAPTER IX
ENGRAVED FANS OF THE SEVENTEENTH AND EIGHTEENTH
CENTURIES. PART I. 204
CHAPTER X
ENGRAVED FANS OF THE SEVENTEENTH AND EIGHTEENTH
CENTURIES. PART II. 232
CHAPTER XI
MODERN AND PRESENT-DAY FANS 272
INDEX 301
[Illustration: PEACOCK-FEATHER FAN.
(From a Japanese Painting. British Museum.)]
[Illustration]
ILLUSTRATIONS IN COLOUR
1. RINALDO IN THE GARDEN OF ARMIDA. LOUIS XV. H.R.H.
THE PRINCESS OF WALES _Frontispiece_
TO FACE PAGE
2. A CONCERT. DUTCH. H.R.H. PRINCESS LOUISE, DUCHESS
OF ARGYLL 1
3. LA DANSE, AFTER LANCRET. DR. LAW ADAM 8
4. SEA NYMPHS. ITALIAN. MR. W. BURDETT-COUTTS, M.P. 27
5. THE RAPE OF HELEN. ‘VERNIS MARTIN.’ LADY LINDSAY 30
6. CHINESE FAN. FILIGREE AND ENAMEL. MR. M. TOMKINSON 46
7. CHINESE FAN. RED LACQUER. MISS MOSS 53
8. HOTEI AND THE CHILDREN. By KANŌ-SHŌ-YEI, 1591. MR. WILSON
CREWDSON. 67
9. THE TAMAGAWA RIVER. By KANŌ SAN RAKU. MR. WILSON CREWDSON 68
10. CUT VELLUM FAN. MR. L. C. R. MESSEL 107
11. FAN MOUNT. BACCHUS AND ARIADNE.
MRS. BRUCE-JOHNSTON Between pages 122 and 123
12. PIAZZA OF ST. MARK. MR. W. BURDETT-COUTTS, M.P. 125
13. SPANISH FAN PAINTED IN THE CHINESE TASTE. LADY LINDSAY 127
14. PASTORELLE. SPANISH. H.S.H. PRINCESS VICTOR
OF HOHENLOHE-LANGENBURG 132
15. BULL FIGHTS. SPANISH. LADY NORTHCLIFFE 134
16. PASTORELLE. LOUIS XV. WYATT COLLECTION, VICTORIA
AND ALBERT MUSEUM 138
17. MOMENS MUSICALS. ‘VERNIS MARTIN.’ MR. LEOPOLD
DE ROTHSCHILD, C.V.O. 142
18. THE RAPE OF HELEN. ‘VERNIS MARTIN.’ LADY NORTHCLIFFE 158
19. DIDO AND ÆNEAS. MRS. BISCHOFFSHEIM. Facing reverse of same Fan
between pages 162 and 163
20. ‘CABRIOLET’ FAN. LADY NORTHCLIFFE 164
21. DIRECTOIRE AND EMPIRE FANS. MISS ETHEL TRAVERS BIRDWOOD, AND
MR. L. C. R. MESSEL, FACING ‘SANS GÊNE’
AND EMPIRE FANS between pages 170 and 171
22. TELEMACHUS AND CALYPSO. THE DOWAGER MARCHIONESS OF BRISTOL 176
23. WEDDING FAN. Directoire. MR. L. C. R. MESSEL 188
24. WEDDING FAN. H.R.H. PRINCESS HENRY OF BATTENBERG 272
25. LE CERF DE ST. HUBERT. BY ROSA BONHEUR. M. GEORGES CAIN 280
26. THE RED FAN. CONVERSATIONS GALANTES. BY CHARLES CONDER.
MR. JOHN LANE 294
27. THE BLUE FAN. BY FRANK BRANGWYN, A.R.A. 296
ILLUSTRATIONS IN HALF-TONE
28. LE BAL D’AMOURS. H.R.H. PRINCESS LOUISE, DUCHESS OF ARGYLL 2
29. HOMMAGES OFFERED TO MADAME DE POMPADOUR. MRS. BRUCE-JOHNSTON 6
30. EGYPTIAN FAN HANDLES. BRITISH MUSEUM 14
31. TERRA-COTTA STATUETTES ” 28
32. AN EASTERN POTENTATE TAKING TEA. MRS. HUNGERFORD POLLEN 33
33. INDIAN FLY-WHISKS AND PEACOCK EMBLEM OF ROYALTY. INDIA MUSEUM 38
34. LARGE HAND-FAN OF SANDALWOOD. MRS. HUNGERFORD POLLEN 41
35. FLAG AND PALM-LEAF FANS. INDIA MUSEUM 42
36. CHINESE FAN. FILIGREE AND ENAMEL. VICTORIA AND ALBERT MUSEUM 48
37. HAND-SCREEN, FRONT AND REVERSE. MR. WILSON CREWDSON 50
38. LACQUERED FAN. LADY NORTHCLIFFE 54
CARVED IVORY FAN WITH THE NAME ANGELA. MR. W. BURDETT-COUTTS,
M.P. 54
39. CHINESE FAN WITH IVORY MINIATURES. MR. W. BURDETT-COUTTS, M.P. 56
40. CHINESE FEATHER-FAN (ARGUS PHEASANT) WITH CASE. VICTORIA AND
ALBERT MUSEUM 59
41. NETSUKI (DAI TENGU). MR. W. L. BEHRENS 60
CAMP-FAN OF EAGLE FEATHERS. MR. L. C. R. MESSEL 60
DAGGER-FAN. MR. W. L. BEHRENS 60
42. SUYE HIRO OGI (Wide End) Open and Closed. MR. W. HARDING SMITH 63
43. AKOMÉ OGI (COURT-FAN). MR. WILSON CREWDSON 64
WAR FAN (GUN SEN). MR. W. HARDING SMITH 64
44. FOUR WAR FANS (GUMBAI UCHIWA). MR. L. C. R. MESSEL,
MR. W. HARDING SMITH, MR. W. L. BEHRENS 69
45. WAR FANS (GUN SEN). MR. L. C. R. MESSEL AND
MR. W. HARDING SMITH 72
46. MODERN JAPANESE FANS. IVORY WITH GILT LACQUER AND PAINTED
FAN SIGNED ‘KUNIHISA.’ MR. M. TOMKINSON 74
47. THREE CHŪKEI. MR. L. C. R. MESSEL 76
48. PALM-LEAF AND HIDE FANS. BRITISH MUSEUM 77
49. PALM FANS, COCKADE INSCRIPTION FAN, FLY-WHISKS (TAHITI), AND
NORTH AMERICAN INDIAN FAN. BRITISH MUSEUM 82
50. THE TOURNAMENT. BY A. MOREAU. VICTORIA AND ALBERT MUSEUM 87
51. FLABELLUM OF TOURNUS. MUSEO NAZIONALE, FLORENCE Facing each other
52. ” ” ” DETAILS between pages 90 and 91
53. IVORY FAN AND FLABELLA HANDLES. BRITISH MUSEUM AND VICTORIA AND
ALBERT MUSEUM 92
54. FAN OF QUEEN THEODOLINDA. CATHEDRAL OF MONZA 96
55. COPTIC FLAG-FANS. KÖNIGL. MUSEUM, BERLIN 98
56. QUEEN ANNE FEATHER-SCREEN. MR. L. C. R. MESSEL 102
57. DÉCOUPÉ FAN. MUSÉE DE CLUNY 109
58. FAN OF MICA. MR. L. C. R. MESSEL 110
59. VENUS AND ADONIS. BY LEONARDO GERMO. WYATT COLLECTION,
VICTORIA AND ALBERT MUSEUM 114
60. AN EMBARCATION. MRS. HAMILTON SMYTHE 116
CUPID’S HIVE. THE DOWAGER MARCHIONESS OF BRISTOL 116
61. THE TRIUMPH OF BACCHUS. LADY NORTHCLIFFE 118
BACCHUS AND ARIADNE. LADY NORTHCLIFFE 118
62. THE MARRIAGE OF CUPID AND PSYCHE. MR. FRANK FALKNER 121
63. A SACRIFICE. MRS. BRUCE-JOHNSTON.
Facing the Colour Plate of Bacchus and Ariadne
Between pages 122 and 123
64. RINALDO IN THE GARDEN OF ARMIDA. MISS MOSS 129
CAPTURE OF THE BALEARIC ISLANDS. MR. L. C. R. MESSEL 129
65. BETROTHAL OF LOUIS XVI. WITH MARIE-ANTOINETTE. MRS. FRANK W.
GIBSON (EUGÉNIE JOACHIM) 130
66. SPANGLED FAN. Spanish. MR. TALBOT HUGHES 136
FÊTE DE L’AGRICULTURE, 1798. MR. L. C. R. MESSEL 136
67. LA DANSE, AND PASTORELLE. DUCHESS OF PORTLAND 141
68. PASTORELLE, AFTER LANCRET. H.R.H. PRINCESS LOUISE,
DUCHESS OF ARGYLL 144
69. ACTÆON FAN. MUSÉE DE CLUNY 146
70. CEPHALUS AND AURORA. MRS. BISCHOFFSHEIM 148
VERNIS MARTIN. MRS. F. R. PALMER 148
71. A PASTORELLE, WITH TWO PORTRAIT MEDALLIONS. WYATT COLLECTION,
VICTORIA AND ALBERT MUSEUM 150
72. THE PARTING OF HELEN AND ANDROMACHE. THE DOWAGER MARCHIONESS
OF BRISTOL 153
73. BATTOIR FAN. THE DOWAGER MARCHIONESS OF BRISTOL 154
74. FÊTE CHAMPÊTRE. ‘VERNIS MARTIN.’ WYATT COLLECTION,
VICTORIA AND ALBERT MUSEUM 156
75. BELSHAZZAR’S FEAST. METROPOLITAN MUSEUM, NEW YORK 160
76. BUILDING OF THE PLACE LOUIS XV. THE DOWAGER MARCHIONESS
OF BRISTOL 162
77. DIDO AND ÆNEAS. REVERSE. MRS. BISCHOFFSHEIM. Facing the Colour
Plate of same Fan Between pages 162 and 163
78. ‘CABRIOLET’ FAN. THE DOWAGER
MARCHIONESS OF BRISTOL } Facing each other
79. ”” ”” ”” ”” } between pages 164 and 165
80. WEDDING FAN. THE COUNTESS OF BRADFORD } Facing each other
81. ” ” LADY LINDSAY } between pages 166 and 167
82. STICK OF MARIE-ANTOINETTE FAN. MUSÉE DU LOUVRE 169
83. SANS GÊNE AND EMPIRE FANS. MR. L. C. R. MESSEL. Facing Colour
Plate of Directoire and Sans Gêne Fans Between pages 170 and 171
84. ‘LORGNETTE’ FANS. MR. L. C. R. MESSEL 173
85. SPANGLED GAUZE FANS. MR. L. C. R. MESSEL 175
86. A LONDON FAN SHOP. MR. L. C. R. MESSEL 178
THE SURRENDER OF MALTA. MRS. HUNGERFORD POLLEN 178
87. FÊTES ON THE OCCASION OF THE MARRIAGE OF THE DAUPHIN. WYATT
COLLECTION, VICTORIA AND ALBERT MUSEUM 180
ENGLISH FAN. THE VISIT. COLLECTION OF BARONESS MEYER
DE ROTHSCHILD 180
88. ENGLISH FAN WITH MEDALLIONS AFTER COSWAY. WYATT COLLECTION,
VICTORIA AND ALBERT MUSEUM 182
89. IVORY EMPIRE FAN. LADY NORTHCLIFFE 184
SPANGLED FAN WITH PAINTED MEDALLIONS. MRS. FRANK W. GIBSON 184
90. WEDDING FAN. MRS. HAWKINS 186
ST. PETER’S, ROME. BY J. GOUPY. DR. LAW ADAM 186
91. EARLY DUTCH FAN. THE DOWAGER MARCHIONESS OF BRISTOL 190
92. ANTONY AND CLEOPATRA. DUTCH. MISS MOSS } Facing each other
93. AN EMBARCATION. DUTCH. M. J. DUVELLEROY} between pages 192 and 193
94. DUTCH FAN WITH HEAD ON STICK. SIR L. ALMA-TADEMA, O.M., R.A. 194
95. AN OFFERING TO CERES. H.R.H. PRINCESS LOUISE,
DUCHESS OF ARGYLL 196
96. DUTCH FAN (DÉCOUPÉ). MRS. DAVIES-GILBERT 198
DUTCH FAN WITH ‘PAGODA’ STICK. MR. L. C. R. MESSEL 198
97. MEDALLION FAN. German. GIVEN BY H.R.H. THE DUKE OF COBURG
TO H.R.H. THE PRINCESS VICTORIA, 1836. H.R.H. PRINCESS
LOUISE, DUCHESS OF ARGYLL 200
98. GERMAN FAN. GIVEN BY H.R.H. THE PRINCE CONSORT TO
QUEEN VICTORIA 200
” ” LANDESGEWERBE MUSEUM, STUTTGART 200
99. TWO GERMAN FANS. KUNSTGEWERBE MUSEUM, BERLIN 202
100. ENGRAVED HAND-SCREEN. A. CARRACCI. SCHREIBER COLLECTION,
BRITISH MUSEUM 204
” ” ” C. F. HÖRMAN. ”” ”” 204
101. FÊTE ON THE ARNO, ‘ÉVENTAIL DE CALLOT.’ BRITISH MUSEUM 206
102. GROTESQUE FAN, STYLE OF CALLOT. BIBLIOTHÈQUE NATIONALE,
PARIS 208
103. THE FOUR AGES. ABRAHAM BOSSE 210
104. TITLE-PAGE. Nicholas LOIRE. SCHREIBER COLLECTION,
BRITISH MUSEUM 212
LA COQUETTE. BIBLIOTHÈQUE NATIONALE, PARIS 212
105. TAKING OF THE BASTILLE. SCHREIBER COLLECTION, BRITISH MUSEUM 214
DUC D’ORLEANS. MISS MOSS 214
106. ABOLITION OF THE SLAVE-TRADE. BIBLIOTHÈQUE NATIONALE, PARIS 222
‘CABRIOLET’ FAN. SCHREIBER COLLECTION, BRITISH MUSEUM 222
107. NAPOLEON SHOWS HIS TROOPS THE CHANNEL. BIBLIOTHÈQUE NATIONALE,
PARIS 224
108. PROJECTED INVASION OF ENGLAND, 1803. BIBLIOTHÈQUE NATIONALE,
PARIS 226
109. MARRIAGE OF NAPOLEON. BIBLIOTHÈQUE NATIONALE, PARIS 228
ADVENTURE IN RUSSIA. SCHREIBER COLLECTION, BRITISH MUSEUM 228
110. A NEW GAME OF PIQUET. SCHREIBER COLLECTION, BRITISH MUSEUM 232
111. THE MOTION. SCHREIBER COLLECTION, BRITISH MUSEUM 236
THE NEW NASSAU FAN. SCHREIBER COLLECTION, BRITISH MUSEUM 236
112. THE HARLOT’S PROGRESS. MR. C. FAIRFAX MURRAY 238
113. VISIT OF GEORGE III. TO THE ROYAL ACADEMY. MR. F. PERIGAL 246
114. MR. THOMAS OSBORNE’S DUCK-HUNTING. SCHREIBER COLLECTION,
BRITISH MUSEUM 252
115. THE TRIAL OF WARREN HASTINGS. MR. W. BURDETT-COUTTS, M.P. 258
THE PARADES OF BATH. MR. W. BURDETT-COUTTS, M.P. 258
116. A TRIP TO GRETNA. SCHREIBER COLLECTION, BRITISH MUSEUM 264
‘BARTOLOZZI’ FAN. MRS. FRANK W. GIBSON (EUGÉNIE JOACHIM) 264
117. MISS CHARLOTTE YONGE’S FAN. MISS MOSS 274
FAN OF ASSES’ SKIN. MISS MOSS 274
118. PAINTED IVORY BRISÉ FAN. MR. LEOPOLD DE ROTHSCHILD, C.V.O. 276
PORTUGUESE FAN. MR. J. H. ETHERINGTON-SMITH 276
119. LACE MOUNT. YOUGHAL CO-OPERATIVE LACE SOCIETY 278
AN ENTOMOLOGIST. COUNTESS GRANVILLE 278
120. COCKS AND HENS. CLAUDIUS POPELIN. MUSÉE DES ARTS DÉCORATIFS,
PARIS 282
121. AUTOGRAPH FAN. SIR LAWRENCE ALMA-TADEMA, O.M., R.A. 284
” ” JAPANESE. MR. FRANK BRANGWYN, A.R.A. 284
122. LACE FAN PRESENTED TO QUEEN ALEXANDRA FOR USE AT CORONATION.
HER MAJESTY THE QUEEN 286
123. FEATHER-FAN. H.R.H. THE PRINCESS OF WALES 289
124. THE MEET. BY CHARLES DETAILLE. M. J, DUVELLEROY 290
125. LACE FAN. BY ALEXANDRE. VICTORIA AND ALBERT MUSEUM } To face each
} other between
126. LACE FAN. M. J. DUVELLEROY } pages
} 292 and 294
127. DESIGN FOR FAN. BY FRANK BRANGWYN, A.R.A. 298
A GARLAND OF CHILDREN. BY G. WOOLLISCROFT RHEAD 298
ILLUSTRATIONS IN LINE
PAGE
Feather-fan, Nimroud ix
Peacock-feather Fan xii
Head-piece xiii
Initial—Boy with Fan 1
Tea-fan 9
Initial—Vulture with Emblem of Protection 10
Fire-fan, Colombia 12
Portuguese ‘Abano’ 12
Plaited Hand-fan, Egyptian 13
Hand-fan, Egyptian 13
Hand-fan, Egyptian 14
Fly-whisk, Egyptian 14
Ceremonial Fans—from Rosellini 15
” ” 16
Investiture of the Office of Fan-bearer 17
Umbrella or Canopy of Chariot of Rameses III. 19
Initial—Assyrian Fly-whisk 20
Assyrian and Persian Fly-whisks 21
Covers of Fly-whisks 21
Tail-piece—from an Assyrian relief 26
Initial—Greek Girl with Fan 27
Greek Fans 28
Greek Girl with Fan 30
Tail-piece—Girl with Fan 32
Initial—from printed Cotton Hanging, India 33
Cingalese Sēsata 37
Fly-whisk—from an illumination 38
” from a painting on talc, Madras 38
Emblem of Royalty 39
Royal Standards 40
Hand-fan 41
Plaited-Grass Fan 41
Flag-fan 41
Talapat Fan and Pankhás 42
Burmese Fan of Gold 43
Portion of Embroidered Muslin (Chamba,
Nineteenth Century) 44
Fly-whisk used by Jains 45
Circular Fan, ‘Like the Moon’ 46
Fan of Hsi Wang Mu (Japanese Painting,
British Museum) 47
Fan of Ming Dynasty (Painting, British Museum) 47
White Plumed Fan of Hsi Wang Mu 48
Two Pear-shaped Screens 49
Initial—Japanese 60
Feather-fan, Japanese Painting 61
Hand-screen, ” ” 61
Fly-whisk, Upper Nile 77
Plaited Fans, South Pacific Islands 79
Plaited Fans, Hawaiian 80
Various Fans, Samoa 81
” British Guiana 81
” Ecuador and Peru 81
” South-Eastern Pacific 81
Flag-fan, West Africa 83
Fly-whisk, Andaman Islands 85
” Tahiti 85
” Matabele 86
” East African 86
Angel with Flabellum 87
Processional Flabellum 88
Coptic Flabellum 89
Flabellum, from Greek Psalter 93
” from Goar 94
” Monza 96
Flag-fan, from Vatican (a glass vase) 98
Banner-fan, from ivory diptich 99
Ghost-fan, Malay Archipelago 106
Fan of Ferrara, or Duck’s-foot 107
Fragments of Fan from Château de Pierre 109
Small Rigid Fans, 1590 109
Feather-fan, Milan 110
Diagram of parts of Folding-fan 116
Rigid Screen of Bologna, 1590 127
Fan of Rice-straw, Fifteenth Century 138
Dimensions of Fans, 1550-1780 148
Japanese Lady’s Court-fan 175
Long-handled Feather-fan 176
Ostrich-feather Folding-fan, Amsterdam 196
Flag-fan, Titian 204
Ivory Fan, Madras, Nineteenth Century 231
Plaited Fan 232
Hide-fan, from Benin 271
Queen Kapiolani’s Fan 272
From a Chinese Screen, Victoria and Albert
Museum 299
[Illustration: A Concert. Dutch, 1720-30, given by the Duke of Cobury
to Princess Victoria (afterwards Queen) in 1836, from the collection of
Fans at Gotha.
H.R.H. Princess Louise, Duchess of Argyll.]
CHAPTER I
THE ORIGIN AND USES OF THE FAN
In the beginning, before the human advent, when the earth was peopled
only by the Immortals, a bright son was born to Aurora, whose soft
and agreeable breath was as honey in the mouth of the gods, and
the beating of whose gossamer wings imparted a delicious coolness
to the air, moderating the heat of summer, and providing the first
suggestion of, and occasion for, the dainty little plaything we have
under consideration, somewhat waggishly described as a kind of wind
instrument, not, perhaps, so much to be played _upon_ as to be played
_with_, and invaluable as assisting to follow out the wisest of the
Sage’s maxims when he bids us keep cool.
This delicate toy, this airy creation of gauze, ivory, and paint, frail
and fragile almost as the flowers kissed by Aurora’s son, endowed
apparently with the gift of perpetual youth, may claim a lineage older
than the Pyramids; having its origin and being in the infancy of the
world, before the birth of history, in that golden age when life was a
perpetual summer, and care was not, when all was concord and harmony,
and old age, long protracted, was dissolved in a serene slumber, and
wafted to the mansions of the gods, the regions of eternal love and
enjoyment.
It was in these halcyon days that the human family sat in its palm
groves, which afforded not only refreshing shade, during the hours when
the sun is at its height, but also provided the precursor of this
‘Servant of Zephyrus’—serving further to temper those beams which are
the source of all life, and light, and music, for are not all the
learned agreed with the late Mr. George Augustus Sala, that if a thorn
was the first needle, doubtless a palm leaf was the first fan?
‘Beneath this shade the weary peasant lies,
Plucks the broad leaf, and bids the breezes rise.’[1]
The poets, however, who lay claim rather to inspiration than to the
dry bones of mere learning, supply us with many fanciful suggestions
as to the fan’s origin—a Spanish story (duly told on a printed fan)
has it that the first fan was a wing which Cupid tore from the back of
Zephyrus for the purpose of fanning Psyche as she lay a-sleeping on her
bed of roses.
A quaint, though somewhat inconsequent, conceit is that of the French
eighteenth-century poet, Augustin de Piis, quoted by M. Uzanne in his
work on the fan, in which Cupid, at an inopportune moment, surprises
the Graces, who were as much embarrassed as the god was delighted—to
hide their confusion, with the hand that was unemployed, they
endeavoured to cover up both eyes by spreading the fingers.
‘And soon Dan Cupid was aware
That though they veiled their eyes, between
The fingers of that Trio fair
Himself was very clearly seen;
On which his little curly head
Deeply to meditate began,
Till from their fair hands thus outspread
He took his first hint for the _Fan_.’
[Illustration: Le Bal d’Amours, by A. Soldé, reverse, a group of
cupids. stick mother of pearl. From Queen Victoria’s collection.
H.R.H. Princess Louise, Duchess of Argyll.]
Whether we accept this explanation or not, and whatever circumstances
attended the origin of the fan, it is abundantly clear that Cupid had a
hand in it. Has not Gay told how the master Cupid traced out the lines,
conceived the shape, converted his arrows into sticks, and from their
barbed points, softened by love’s flame, forged the pin? Is not the
fan one of the chief weapons in the armoury of the Love-God? Is it not
the rampart from behind which the fiercest fire of love’s artillery is
directed? Nay, is it not in very truth the sceptre of the Love-God? Did
not the Greeks early recognise this fact by placing the plumed fan in
the hands of Eros himself? The fan is at once the _creation_ of Amor
and the chief ensign of his sovereignty!
And its uses?
Madame la Baronne de Chapt, in the first volume of her _Œuvres
Philosophiques_, discovers a hundred such:—‘It is so charming, so
convenient, so suited to give countenance to a young girl, and to
extricate her from embarrassment, that it cannot be too much exalted;
we see it straying over cheeks, bosoms, hands, with an elegance which
everywhere provokes admiration.
‘Love uses a fan as an infant does a toy—makes it assume all sorts of
shapes; breaks it even, lets it fall a thousand times to the ground....
‘Is it a matter of indifference, this fallen fan? Such a fall is the
result of reflection, of careful calculation, intended as a test of the
ardour and celerity of aspiring suitors.—And the successful suitor,
the favoured swain? Is it not he who discovers the greatest celerity
in returning the fan to its charming owner, and, in doing so, imprints
a secret but chaste kiss upon the fair hand that takes it, and is
rewarded by a look ten thousand times more eloquent than speech?’
And if, peradventure, by the spell of some magician, this little
instrument could itself be endowed with speech! Aha! ma chère madame,
what tales could it not unfold from the recesses of its fluted leaves,
what whispers! what confidences! what assignations! what _intrigues_!
‘Pour une Espagnole,’ writes Charles Blanc, ‘toutes les intrigues de
l’amour, tous les manœuvres de la galanterie, sont cachées dans les
plis de son éventail. Les audaces furtifs du regard, les aventures
de la parole, les aveux risqués, les demi-mots proférés du bout des
lèvres, tout cela est dissimulé par l’éventail, qui a l’air d’interdire
ce qu’il permet de faire, et d’intercepter ce qu’il envoie.’
Disraeli (_Contarini Fleming_), in similar strain, with no less
eloquence, says: ‘A Spanish lady with her fan might shame the tactics
of a troop of horse. Now she unfolds it with the slow pomp and
conscious elegance of the bird of Juno; now she flutters it with all
the languor of a listless beauty, now with all the liveliness of a
vivacious one. Now in the midst of a very tornado she closes it with
a whirr, which makes you start. Magical instrument! in this land it
speaks a particular language, and gallantry requires no other mode to
express its most subtle conceits, or its most unreasonable demands,
than this delicate machine.’
‘Women,’ says the witty _Spectator_, ‘are armed with Fans as men
with Swords—and sometimes do more execution with them.... There is
an infinite variety of motions to be made use of in the _flutter of
a Fan_. There is the angry Flutter, the modest Flutter, the timorous
Flutter, the confused Flutter, the merry Flutter, and the amorous
Flutter. Not to be tedious, there is scarce any emotion in the mind
which does not produce a suitable agitation in the Fan; insomuch that
if I only see the Fan of a disciplined Lady I know very well whether
she laughs, frowns, or blushes. I have seen a Fan so very angry,
that it would have been dangerous for the absent lover who provoked
it to have come within the wind of it: and at other times so very
languishing, that I have been glad for the Lady’s sake the lover was at
a sufficient distance from it. I need not add that a Fan is either a
Prude or Coquette according to the nature of the person who bears it.’
Mr. George Meredith, too, would appear to have studied its motions:
‘Lady Denewdney’s fan took to beating time meditatively. Two or
three times she kept it elevated, and in vain: the flow of their
interchanging speech was uninterrupted. At last my father bowed to her
from a distance. _She signalled_: his eyelids pleaded short sight,
awakening to the apprehension of a pleasant fact; _the fan tapped_, and
he halted his march, leaning scarce perceptibly in her direction. _The
fan showed distress._’[2]
In one of the sprightliest of Steele’s letters to the _Tatler_, the
beauteous Delamira, upon the eve of her marriage, resigns her fan,
having no further occasion for it. She is entreated by the matchless
Virgulta, who had begun to despair of ever entering the matrimonial
state, to confide to her the secret of her success. ‘That swimming air
of your body,’ says she; ‘that jaunty bearing of your Head over your
shoulder; and that inexpressible Beauty in your manner of playing your
Fan, must be lower’d into a more confined Behaviour; to show, That you
would rather shun than receive Addresses for the future. Therefore,
dear Delamira, give me these excellencies you leave off, and acquaint
me with your Manner of Charming.’...
Delamira explained that all she had above the rest of her Sex and
contemporary Beauties was wholly owing to a Fan (left to her by her
Mother, and had been long in the Family), which, whoever had in
Possession, and used with Skill, should command the hearts of all her
Beholders; ‘and since,’ said she, smiling, ‘I have no more to do with
extending my Conquests or Triumphs, I’ll make you a present of this
inestimable Rarity.’ ‘You see, Madam,’ continued she, upon Virgulta’s
inquiry as to the Management of that utensil, ‘_Cupid_ is the principal
Figure painted on it; and the skill in playing this Fan is, in your
several Motions of it to let him appear as little as possible: for
honourable Lovers fly all Endeavours to ensnare ’em; and your _Cupid_
must hide his Bow and Arrow, or he’ll never be sure of his Game. You
may observe that in all publick Assemblies, the sexes seem to separate
themselves, and draw up to attack each other with Eye-shot; That is the
time when the Fan, which is all the Armour of Woman, is of most use in
her Defence; for our minds are constructed by the waving of that
little Instrument, and our thoughts appear in Composure or Agitation
according to the Motion of it. You may observe when Will Peregrine
comes into the side Box, Miss Gatty flutters her Fan as a Fly does
its Wings round a Candle; while her elder Sister, who is as much in
Love with him as she is, is as grave as a Vestal at his Entrance,
and the consequence is accordingly. He watches half the Play for a
Glance from her Sister, while Gatty is overlooked and neglected. I
wish you heartily as much Success in the Management of it as I have
had;.... Take it, good Girl, and use it without Mercy; for the Reign
of Beauty never lasted full Three Years, but it ended in Marriage, or
Condemnation to Virginity.’[3]
If the fan is efficacious as a weapon of offence in Love’s sieges, it
is no less effective as a shield against Love’s darts. On a painted
Spanish fan in the Schreiber Collection in the British Museum are
represented three fair nymphs in a wooded landscape, one of whom
is receiving on her fan an arrow discharged by the Love-God, who
is accompanied by my lady Venus in her car. On a scroll is the
inscription, ‘l’utilité des éventails,’ ‘la utilidad de los abanicos.’
This use of the fan as shield, is adopted also by the _shinláung_, or
monastic novitiate of Burma, who employs his large palm-fan, both as a
shelter from the fierceness of the sun’s rays, and as a screen from the
sight of womankind, moving, in the latter instance, his fan from right
to left as occasion requires, _i.e._ whenever a woman happens to pass.
[Illustration:
Epoch Louis XV.
Fan Mount—Unfolded.
Hommages offered at the Altar of Madame de Pompadour
by Church and State,—Literature, Art, Music, Etc.
Hommages Offered to Madame de Pompadour.
Mrs Bruce Johnston.]
A story, the source of which is not given,[4] is told of Goldoni, who,
being one evening the guest of a Venetian lady, was complimented by her
upon the productions of his genius.
‘Why, my lady,’ he replied, ‘_anything_ provides a subject for a
comedy.’
‘Anything?’ replied the lady.
‘Anything,’ emphatically replied the dramatist.
‘Even this fan?’ insisted the Beauty.
‘I shall be indebted to you for life,’ exclaimed Goldoni, struck with a
happy thought. ‘You have suggested to me my best comedy; in a week you
will read it.’[5]
Many and manifold are the uses of the fan. What device, for example,
could better display the beauty of a rounded arm, or the ivory
whiteness of tapered fingers? Such an instrument provides graceful
and often much-needed employment to those same delicate fingers; it
supplies that necessary sense of completeness to the _tout ensemble_ of
the picture. And the comedy actress, desiring some trifle to emphasise
a movement, to give point and expression to some particular action—what
more effective instrument than a fan, the use of which, on the stage,
has almost been elevated into a fine art!
‘Pray, ladies, copy Abington;
Observe the breeding in her air:
There’s nothing of the actress there!
Assume her fashion if you can
And catch the graces of her fan.’
This at once recalls the saying of Northcote, who, although reluctantly
compelled to admit Queen Charlotte’s excessive plainness, an elegant
and not a vulgar plainness—she had a beautifully shaped arm, and was
fond of exhibiting it—exclaimed, ‘She had a fan in her hand. Lord! how
she held that fan!’[6]
Madame D’Arblay, in one of her most delightful letters, records a
conversation between herself and Mr. Fairly (Col. Stephen Digby),
who, upon the occasion of a visit to her, ‘finding she entered into
nothing,’ took up a fan which lay on the table and began playing off
various imitative airs with it, exclaiming, ‘How thoroughly useless a
toy!’
‘“No,” I said, “on the contrary, taken as an ornament, it was the most
useful of any belonging to full dress; occupying the hands, giving the
eyes something to look at, and taking away stiffness and formality from
the figure and deportment.”
‘“Men have no fans,” cried he, “and how do they do?”
‘“Worse,” quoth I plumply.
* * * * *
‘“But the real use of the fan,” cried he, “if there is any, is it
not—to hide a particular blush that ought not to appear?”
‘“Oh no, it would rather make it the sooner noticed.”
‘“Not at all; it may be done under pretence of absence—rubbing the
cheek, or nose—putting it up accidentally to the eye—in a thousand
ways.”’
The uses of the Fan? They are legion!—They record for us public events,
military, political, civil; they tell us our fortunes; instruct us in
Botany, in Heraldry, in tricks with cards; they propound conundrums;
take us to the theatre, to bull-fights, to church, to the first balloon
ascent; and to Mr. Thomas Osborne’s Duck-hunting!
In Shakespeare’s day no lady thought of stirring abroad without this
accompaniment, the care of the toy devolving upon the gentleman usher—
‘Peter, take my fan and go before.’
_Romeo and Juliet._
From the Aubrey MS., 1678, we learn that ‘the gentlemen (_temp._ Henry
VIII.) had prodigious fans, as is to be seen in old pictures,[7] like
that instrument which is used to drive feathers, and in it a handle
at least half a yard long; with these the daughters were oftentimes
corrected (Sir Edward Coke, Lord Chief-Justice, rode the circuit
with such a fan; Sir William Dugdale told me he was an eye-witness of
it;[8] the Earl of Manchester also used such a fan); but fathers and
mothers slasht their daughters in the time of their besom discipline
when they were perfect women.’[9]
[Illustration: La Danse, after Lancret.
Dr Law Adam]
Hotspur’s exclamation, I _Henry IV._, II. iii., further serves to show
that this instrument could, upon occasion, be used as an offensive
weapon:
‘Zounds! an I were now by this rascal, I could brain him with
his lady’s fan.’
The strength hidden in such an apparently harmless toy is thus
recognised equally by both sterner and gentler sex: the hint contained
in the quaint and charming conceit addressed to the fan of his mistress
by Louis de Boissey, author of _Le Babillard_, will not be lost upon
lovers:
‘Deviens le protecteur de ma vive tendresse,
Bel éventail! je te remets mes droits;
Et si quelque rival avait la hardiesse
D’approcher de trop près du sein de ma maîtresse,
Bel éventail: donne-lui sur les doigts!’
[Illustration: TEA FAN.]
CHAPTER II
FANS OF THE ANCIENTS
EGYPT
[Illustration]
The word fan, or van, is derived from the Latin _vannus_, the Roman
instrument for winnowing grain. This winnowing-fan, held sacred by all
the peoples of the ancient world, together with the fire-fan (bellows),
also a sacred instrument, and used by the priestesses of Isis to fan
the flame of their altars—these must be accounted amongst the earliest
of the ancient and prolific fan-family. To the first named are several
references in Holy Writ. Isaiah, xxx. 24, speaks of the oxen and young
asses that shall eat clean provender which hath been winnowed with the
shovel and with the fan. Jeremiah, xv. 6-7, lamenting the backsliding
of Jerusalem, exclaims, ‘I am weary with repenting; and I will fan them
with a fan in the gates of the land’; and again in li. 2, ‘Send unto
Babylon fanners that shall fan her, and shall empty her land.’
In Matt. iii. 12, and Luke iii. 17, John the Baptist, announcing the
coming of ‘one mightier than I’—‘He shall baptize you with the Holy
Ghost and with fire: whose fan is in his hand, and he will throughly
purge his floor, and will gather the wheat into his garner.’
Both these instruments appear on a bas-relief from a tomb at Sakkarah,
of the twelfth Pharaonic dynasty, _circa_ B.C. 2366-2266, sixteen
hundred years before Isaiah wrote. In this some shepherds are roasting
trussed and spitted ducks over fires which are being kept alive by the
plaited, wedge-shaped hand-fan; the winnowing-fan appearing in the same
picture.
Servius, in commenting on Virgil’s mystical fan of Bacchus, (‘mystica
vannus Iacchi,’ _Georg._ i. 166) affirms that the sacred rites of
Bacchus pertained to the purification of souls; in Assyria, also,
it was introduced in the ceremonies connected with the worship of
Bacchus and became a sacred emblem.[10] This instrument, carried at the
Dionysia or festivals in honour of Bacchus, was called Lichnon
(Λίχνον), and was so essential to the solemnities of this god, that
they could not be duly celebrated without it. So also Osiris, when
judge of Amenti, holds in his crossed hands the crook and flagellum,
the mystical _vannus_—‘whose fan is in his hand,’[11] each of these
instances having reference to the generative principle, and the
improvement of the world by tillage.
The passage in Jeremiah xiii. 24, ‘Therefore will I scatter them as the
stubble that passeth away by the wind of the wilderness,’ suggested the
proud motto of the Kentish family of Septvans (Setvans):
‘Dissipabo inimicos Regis mei ut paleam.’
‘The enemies of my king will I disperse like chaff.’[12]
On the brass of Sir Robert de Septvans, 1306, Chartham, Kent, the
knight’s shield and aillettes upon the shoulders are charged with
the winnowing-fans from which he takes his name, and small fans are
embroidered upon his surcoat. In the Lansdowne MSS. 855 B.M., the arms
are thus given: ‘Sir robt de sevens dazur e iij vans dor.’
The Greeks named ῥιπίς the large flat instrument which was used to fan
the fire: the diminutive ῥιπίδιον was applied to objects of similar
form in ordinary use amongst both sexes for the purpose of fanning as
well as to drive away the flies. Indeed the use of the fan as bellows
appears to have been practically universal, and to have dated from a
very early period of the world’s history.
[Illustration]
The employment of these instruments, as well as the forms which they
assumed, is continued even to the present day:[13] in the Republic
of Colombia, where fans are employed as much by men as by women, the
kitchen of every hut and house throughout the country is provided with
a fan in lieu of bellows, rectangular in form, albeit broader at the
outside than at the short handle, and about 12 inches by 9 inches in
size: These are formed of the young inside leaf of the cabbage-palm,
the handle and back being the rib of the leaf, the fan portion being
the fronds of the leaf plaited.
[Illustration]
The Portuguese fire-fans (Abano) made in the south of Portugal, and in
universal use in that country, are round in shape, coarsely plaited in
straw or rush, and fixed in a rough wooden handle.
These, representing the two simplest elemental forms, are the primeval
fans which have come down to us from the remotest periods of history,
have endured through the centuries, and, like the fans in use in India
at present, identical as a matter of fact with these in form, are as
modern as they are ancient.
These two fans, the winnowing-fan and the fire-fan, minister to the
two most pressing of man’s necessities—to the first of his physical
necessities, his daily bread, and to his chief mental necessity, the
attainment of the bread of life; the fire-fan keeping alive the flame
sacred to the great goddess who is the mother of all things, mistress
of the elements, giver of the golden grain, which, when ripened, is
separated from the chaff by the winnowing-fan; the one instrument,
therefore, being the complement and counterpart of the other.
The Egyptian plaited hand-fan, used for fanning the fire, as well as
for other domestic purposes, was made in a precisely similar way to
the Portuguese ‘Abano’ above referred to, except that instead of being
a complete circle, it assumed the form of a rather full crescent.
In the painted decoration of a tomb at Eileithyia, representing the
interior of a storeroom, a workman is cooling, by means of one of
these hand-fans, the liquid which is contained in a number of vases or
amphoræ.
[Illustration]
In a great funeral procession of a royal scribe at Thebes, servants
carry, among other offerings, similar crescent-shaped matted fans,
together with, in three instances, the more ornamental semicircular
feather hand-fan used by ladies for the purpose of fanning themselves,
and also, with a somewhat longer handle, waved by servitors in
attendance upon great personages of both sexes.
[Illustration]
On an Egyptian tablet or stele of the twelfth dynasty, in the British
Museum, the lady Khu is seated with her husbands, receiving offerings
from their children; a hand-fan of semicircular form rests against the
seat; this evidently not of feathers, but rigid, since the construction
is suggested in the representation, and obviously used by the lady
herself rather than by attendants.
[Illustration]
The handles of these fans were of ivory, of wood painted, or of
sandalwood, which latter, when warmed by the fingers, exhaled a
delicious perfume.
A few fan-handles exist in the various public museums; two occur in
the British Museum, together with a portion of a handle inscribed with
the name of Nebseni, inspector of the goldsmiths of Amen, eighteenth
dynasty, illustrated opposite.
A primitive fly-whisk, of the type seen on the Assyrian monuments,
appears in the Louvre, under Egypt, but undated and undescribed; it is
formed of grassy reeds of a buff ochre colour, bent backwards at the
handle, and rudely tied with the same substance, the length being about
2 feet 6 inches.
[Illustration]
The standard, banner, and processional fans are usually formed of
the feathers of the larger birds, fixed in a long wooden handle, the
feathers, as well as the handle, being painted or dyed in brilliant
colours. These, as will be seen by a reference to the examples from
Rosellini, are designed with the consummate sense of proportion
distinguishing all Egyptian work. In both the examples given, the tips
of the feathers are surmounted by a tuft of small fluffy feathers,
this being a device common to many countries, and is seen in the North
American Indian fan illustrated, page 82.
[Illustration: Two Fan Handles.
Portion of a Fan Handle, inscribed with the name of Nebseni.
Egyptian, 18th Dynasty.
British Museum.]
Many of these standard and processional fans, doubtless, were formed of
some material stretched upon a semicircular frame, the fan decorated
in various ways. They were in attendance on the king wherever he went;
they were also used as standards in war, the king’s chariot being
always accompanied by at least two. The fact that they were dedicated
to the service of the gods is evidenced by a stele in the museum at
Boulak, on which is represented Osiris enthroned with a flabellifer
behind, waving the long-handled fan. The radiate fans, writes Professor
Flinders Petrie, were used as sunshades, appearing in hieroglyphs as
the determination of _Khaib_, _i.e._ shadow.
[Illustration: CEREMONIAL FANS
(From Rosellini.)]
In the temple of Rameses XII., B.C. 1135, a tablet represents the
departure of the Khonsu from Thebes to the land of Bakhatana. A
standard fan of ostrich feathers of the Indian _murchal_ type is fixed
in the bow of the boat bearing the god in his ark, and a semicircular
standard fan in the stern; both being inclined so as to meet above, and
overshadow the ark.[14] In the temple of Derri in Nubia, the sacred
barque of the god Phré is solemnly borne by twelve priests, the king
accompanying in military costume; a flabellifer waves the long-handled
fan.
Numerous representations of these long-handled, semicircular, standard
fans occur on the monuments. At Thebes (Rhamessium) is figured a
reception of the military chiefs and foreign envoys by Rameses III. Two
servitors behind the king carry these fans, and two fan-bearers wave
the ostrich-feather emblem.
[Illustration: CEREMONIAL FANS
(From Rosellini.)]
At Medinet Abu, the same king is seated in his chariot with three
servitors waving the long-handled, semicircular fans.
The tall, single ostrich plume was probably in the first instance a
fly-whisk. It was the principal ensign of the office of fan-bearer,
which was one of great distinction, and one of the highest in the gift
of the monarch, none but royal princes or scions of the first nobility
being permitted to hold it. The ceremony of investiture took place
in the presence of the king seated upon his throne, and was usually
performed after a victory, and granted for some distinguished service
in the field. Two priests invest the holder with the robe, chain, and
other insignia of his office, the fortunate recipient of the honour
raising aloft the flabellum and crook, thus expressing his fidelity to
his king and master. This was the usual formula of investiture of high
office; its resemblance to the biblical account of Joseph’s advancement
will at once be apparent.
‘And Pharaoh took off his ring from his hand and put it upon Joseph’s
hand, and arrayed him in vestures of fine linen, and put a gold chain
about his neck.’
Upon the field of battle the fan-bearers either attended the monarch on
foot or took command of a division with the rank of general. During
the heat of battle, whether mounted in cars or engaged on foot, they
either carried the emblem of their office in their hand, or slung it
behind them. Their privileges were many, amongst them being the right
of presenting prisoners to the king after a victory. The office was
divided into two grades—those who served upon the right and left of
the king respectively, the most honourable post being always conferred
upon those of the highest rank, or for the most distinguished services.
A certain number were always on duty, and were required to carry the
monarch in the palanquin or chair of state, and to attend during the
grand solemnities of the temple and upon all occasions of high state
ceremonial.
[Illustration: INVESTITURE OF THE OFFICE OF FAN-BEARER
(From Wilkinson.)]
The monuments bear eloquent testimony to the importance and
significance of this object. At Thebes (palace of Medinet Abu), Rameses
Méiamoun appears in a magnificent palanquin, surrounded by no less than
twenty bearers of the fan emblem, amongst whom are the sons of the king.
In the same palace the ten sons of Rameses appear in the order of their
precedence, bearing the emblem; the hieroglyphics, by their side,
indicating their name and functions.
On an occasion when the king (Rameses IV.) receives the homage of the
chiefs of the army, two servitors with the long semicircular fans, and
two bearers of the fan emblem, are in attendance.
The highest significance of the fan emblem is when it is grasped by
the talons of the sacred vulture, guardian and protectress of the
monarchs. This figure occurs repeatedly on the monuments; at Medinet
Abu, Rameses-Méiamoun is seen subduing an army of Asiatics, the vulture
waving the fan emblem over the head of the king.
In the temple of Beit Oually in Nubia, Rameses II., helmeted, is
striding over a fallen barbarian; the vulture of protection hovers
around the head of the hero. On the same monument Rameses seizes by the
hair a barbarian with broken bow, the vulture again in attendance. Upon
the completion of the victory, four fan-bearers, each with crook and
flabellum, offer the spoils of conquest to the king.
On a bas-relief at Thebes, Seti I. is seen in his war-chariot subduing
the barbarians, also accompanied by the vulture.
At Philæ, Ptolemy Philometor appears with a group of vanquished
Asiatics, the vulture once more in attendance.
In the papyrus of Hunefer (Book of the Dead) a winged Utchat, with Eye
of Horus, waves the fan emblem over the head of Osiris.
In the papyrus of Anhai, over the Standard of the West, which crowns
the Solar Mount and supports the hawk Rā-Harmachis, two winged Hori
appear as the protecting principle.
This symbol of the vulture forms a motif for surface decoration on the
ceiling of the hypostyle hall of the Rhamessium. Above the great bell
capital, the vulture, grasping in each talon a fan emblem, is treated
as a repeated ornamental pattern; it also appears as decoration of the
umbrella or canopy of the chariot of Rameses III. (Sesostris).
We are thus enabled to realise the great part played by the fan alike
in the military, civil, and religious life of Egypt. As an instrument
in the hands of private persons, or even of slaves in attendance on
individuals, it is less in evidence on the monuments, although we
may naturally assume that in a climate such as Egypt this instrument
would be in constant requisition. We strain the eye of imagination to
the very earliest period of the history of this mystic land, and see
in fancy the Queen of Menes the Thinite, surrounded by slaves only a
little less fair than herself, waving the fan of square form actually
appearing on a cylinder in the Louvre; we see, also in fancy, the famed
and beautiful Queen Nitôcris, the handsomest woman of her time, builder
of the third Pyramid, reclining upon her couch, the air being rendered
less oppressive by the waving of the soft feather fan with which the
monuments have made us familiar. Lastly, have we not Shakespeare’s
glowing picture of the fanning of the voluptuous ‘serpent of old Nile,’
Cleopatra?
[Illustration: UMBRELLA OR CANOPY OF THE CHARIOT OF RAMESES III.]
‘For her owne person,
It begger’d all description: she did lye
In her Pavillion, Cloth of Gold, of tissue,
O’er-picturing that Venus, where we see
The fancie out-worke nature; on each side her
Stood pretty-Dimpled boyes, like smiling Cupids,
With divers-colour’d fannes whose winde did seem
To glowe the delicate cheekes which they did coole,
And what they undid, did.’
FANS OF THE ANCIENTS—_Continued_
ASSYRIA
[Illustration]
The employment of the fan in the religious ceremonies of Assyria has
already been hinted at. There can be no possibility of doubt that
the ceremonies and customs, both sacred and secular, connected with
the fan, were common to all the countries of the East, these being
the offspring of similar conditions and necessities. Thus we have in
Assyrian sculpture frequent representations of the fly-whisk. On a
bas-relief from Nimroud King Sennacherib is standing in his chariot
superintending the moving of a colossal figure at the building of
his palace at Kouyunjik, two attendants behind the chariot bearing
an umbrella and fly-whisk; on another relief we see Assur-bani-pal
standing, bow and arrow in hand, pouring out a libation over four dead
lions before an altar, his umbrella-bearer and fly-flapper being in
attendance. We are also introduced to the garden or palm-grove of
Assur-bani-pal’s palace, wherein the king is being entertained by
his queen at a banquet; the queen holding in her left hand what is
evidently a small fan and of the shape and general appearance of the
pleated fan, but probably rigid.
The royal fan-bearers were two in number, invariably eunuchs, their
usual place being behind the monarch. The long-tasselled scarf appears
to be the badge of the office, which was one of great dignity. Its
holder was privileged to leave his station behind the throne and hand
his master the sacred cup, the royal scent-bottle, or handkerchief,
which latter article invariably appears in the left hand. The usage
of this office seems to have been very similar to that of Egypt; in
the absence of the vizier, or in subordination to him, he introduced
captives to the king, reading out their names from a scroll or tablet
in his left hand.[15]
[Illustration: ASSYRIA]
[Illustration: PERSIA]
The matter of the ‘handkerchief’ opens up an important question.
Sir George Birdwood, in a masterly address before the Society of
Arts on the subject of ancient fans, says: ‘On a “marble” in the
British Museum, from Kouyunjik (near Mossul, _i.e._ Nineveh),
representing Sennacherib, B.C. 681-705, enthroned before Lachish,
two attendants stand behind the throne, each waving in his right
hand, over the monarch’s head, a _murchal_ (fly-whisk) of undoubted
peacocks’ feathers, and each bearing in his left hand what I identify
as the _cover of the murchal_. It is absurd to take it to be a
pocket-handkerchief.’
[Illustration]
On the other hand, Mr. S. W. Bushell, in his _Handbook of Chinese Art_,
refers to the _fan- and towel-bearers_ in the Chinese sculptures of the
Han dynasty; these, although somewhat differing in shape from those of
the Assyrian reliefs, evidently served a similar purpose.
It is an extremely difficult point to determine; in the reliefs of
Assur-bani-pal at Susiana, of Sennacherib at Kouyunjik, and others,
two flabelliferæ walk behind the king’s chariot bearing in their right
hands the fly-whisks, their left hands not being seen. Standing in the
umbrella-covered chariot, immediately behind the king and charioteer,
a figure bears a smaller handkerchief or cover in his _right_ hand,
but no evidence of a fly-whisk. The left hand in this instance also
does not appear in the relief. In a representation of Assur-bani-pal in
the Louvre (Layard, _Monuments_, Series II. Plate 51), the king holds
in his right hand a small fan; an attendant behind holds the cover or
handkerchief in his right hand, but no fly-whisk. These objects are in
most instances fringed, and in some cases embroidered with a narrow
border.
Assyrian fly-whisks were usually of feathers, set in a short handle
of ivory, wood, or other material, carved or otherwise ornamented.
There were two kinds, a smaller one which was a kind of brush, made of
horse-hair or vegetable fibre, and a larger one of feathers; the short
brush fan belongs to the earlier period, the long feathered form to the
later.[16]
The two forms, however, appear at the same time. In the bas-relief of
the banquet above referred to, attendants bear dishes of fruits and
meats, each being provided with the small fly-whisk, evidently for the
purpose of driving away insects from the royal dishes.
The ceremonies and usages connected with the fly-whisk open up a vast
field of inquiry, far too involved to be adequately dealt with here;
some few aspects may, however, be touched upon.
Baal-zebub, Beel-zebub, Beel-zebut, Bel-zebub, the Philistine god of
Ekron, whom the Jews represented as Prince of Devils, was literally
Lord Fly, or Lord of the Flies. When Ahaziah was sick he sent to
consult the Lord Fly’s oracle.[17]
The word Baal simply means owner, master, or lord. In Phœnicia and
Carthage it was the custom of kings and great men to unite their names
with that of their god, as Hannibal, ‘grace of Baal,’ Hasdrubal, ‘help
of Baal.’ Amongst the Jews also many names of cities were compounded
with Baal; as Baal-Gad, Baal-Hammon, Baal-Thamar. In the ‘authorised
version’ the name is Baal-zebub, afterwards changed to Beel-zebub; the
original conception is, however, one of great difficulty and obscurity,
unless, indeed, we may directly connect the worship of Baal with that
of the sun. Josephus declares that the Assyrians erected the first
statue of Mars, and worshipped him as a God, calling him Baal. We read
in the book of Kings how Josiah destroyed the altars which had been
reared by Manasseh, and ‘put down the idolatrous priests, ... them also
that burned incense unto Baal, to the sun and to the moon, and to the
planets, and to all the host of heaven’; these instances suggesting
that Baal and the sun were two separate deities. On the other hand,
Baal-Hammon is represented on a Carthaginian monument with a crown of
rays. Baalbek was called by the Greeks Heliopolis (sun-city) and at
Baal-Shemeh (house of the sun) there was a temple to Baal.
If, therefore, we may regard Baal and the sun as synonymous, the matter
is at once simplified, since the sun is the bringer of flies, and is in
actual fact Lord of the Flies.
According to Pliny, the Cyrenians offered sacrifices to the
fly-catching god Achor, because the flies bred pestilence, and this
author remarks that no sooner is the sacrifice offered, than the flies
perish.
The Greeks had their Jupiter Myiodes, or fly-hunter, to whom a bull
was sacrificed in order to propitiate him in driving away the flies
which infested the Olympic Games. There was also a Hercules Myiodes,
the origin of whose worship Pausanias declares to have been the
following:—Hercules, being molested by swarms of flies while he was
about to offer sacrifice to Olympian Jupiter in the temple, offered
a victim to that god under the name of Myagron, upon which all the
flies flew away beyond the river Alpheus. Pausanias further refers to
the festival of Athena at Aliphera in Arcadia, which was opened with
a sacrifice and prayer to the Fly-catcher, and states that after the
sacrifice, the flies gave no further trouble.
Ælian (_Nat. An._, xi. 8) affirms that at the festival of Apollo in the
island of Leucas, an ox was sacrificed; the flies, glutted with the
blood, gave no further trouble. The same author states that the flies
of Pisa (Olympia) were more virtuous, because they did their duty, not
for a consideration, but out of pure regard for the god.[18]
Scaliger derives the name of Beel-zebub, the false god, from
Baalim-Zebabim, which signifies _lord of sacrifices_. This deity was
worshipped during the time of our Saviour, who is accused by the
Pharisees of casting out devils by Beel-zebub, the prince of the
devils. So Holman Hunt, in his picture of the finding of the Saviour
in the Temple, with fine perception, places a fly-whisk in the hand
of a child.[19] A child is here propounding to his elders a purer and
loftier system of ethics than had heretofore been dreamed of; a child,
likewise, banishes the servants of Belial.
With the Jewish writers of the Middle Ages the worship of Baal
frequently signified the practising of the rites of the Christian
religion; thus Rabbi Joseph Ben Meir in his _Chronicles_ states that
Clovis forsook his God and worshipped Baal, and that a high place
was built at Paris for Baal Dionysius, _i.e._ the Cathedral of St.
Denis.[20]
The Assyrians employed the tall standard and sceptral fans in a
precisely similar way to the Egyptians. In the restoration of the
palace of Sargon (Khorsabad), compiled by Felix Thomas, given by Perrot
and Chipiez, _History of Art in Chaldæa and Assyria_, vol. ii. p. 24,
two enormous frond standards are placed at the entrance to the Harem
Court, these being circular, formed of palm fronds in bronze gilt. ‘In
India, as in Japan,’ to quote again Sir George Birdwood, ‘the standard
is often blazoned with some totemistic, symbolical, or heraldic
device, and it was probably so blazoned in Assyria, for from Assyria
the practice spread to Greece and Rome of using such devices on both
standards and shields. Later this ritual was revived by the Saracens,
and was spread over mediæval Europe by the Crusaders returning from the
Holy Land.’
The Assyrian disc-standards were probably of brass or other metal,
fixed to the inside of the chariot. Two devices appear on the
monuments—the Divine Archer standing on a bull, and two bulls running
in opposite directions. These were enclosed in a circle at the end of a
long staff ornamented with streamers and tassels.[21]
The Assyrians employed the primitive plaited fan, used in Egypt, both
crescent-shaped, square, and triangular. On a relief from Nimroud,
in the British Museum, in a circular arrangement divided into four
compartments, representing the interior of a castle with towers and
battlements, a eunuch is waving in his right hand, over a stand on
which are vases and bowls, a square, flag-shaped fan, certainly of the
plaited variety; in the left hand is what appears to be a fly-whisk.
On a silver dish in the Strogonoff collection illustrated in
_Orientalische Teppiche, Alois Riegl_, a Sassanian monarch is seated,
cross-legged, holding a tazza, and attended by two servitors, one
of whom waves a plaited flag-fan of oblong shape. The dish, which
bears strong traces of Indian influence, is probably of the period of
Varannes II., A.D. 273-277.
The swinging-fan, suspended from the ceiling, and operated by pulling a
cord, is an ancient device for cooling the air of rooms. The testimony
of an Assyrian bas-relief from Nineveh indicates its use at the
period to which these sculptures belong—seventh to tenth century B.C.
Wicquefort, in his translation of the embassy of Garcias de Figueron,
gives the name of fan to a kind of chimney or ventiduct, in use among
the Persians, to furnish air and wind into their houses, without which
the heat would be insupportable.[22]
A variant of this device for ventilating rooms is recorded in Chinese
annals. Under the Han dynasty, B.C. 205-A.D. 25, a skilful workman at
Ch’ang—and named Ting Huan—made a fan of seven large wheels 10 feet in
diameter, the whole turned by a single man.
[Illustration: FROM A BAS-RELIEF. (Nimroud.)]
The luxurious Guez de Balzac, in the twentieth letter, written from
Rome in 1621, to the Cardinal de la Villette, with his customary
extravagant hyperbole, describes his method of guarding against the
heat during the broiling month of July—‘Four servants constantly fan my
apartments; _they raise wind enough to make a tempestuous sea_.’
[Illustration: Sea Nymphs, Italian, 1760, gouache on skin; horn stick,
finely piqué in gold, panaches with crown & fleurs de lys of France.
Mr W. Burdett-Coutts. M.P.]
FANS OF THE ANCIENTS—_Continued_
GREECE AND ROME
[Illustration]
In Greece, as in Egypt, the fan had a sacred as well as a secular
use. M. Uzanne refers to the fan of feathers which those discreet and
irreproachable ladies, the Vestals, made use of to fan the flame of
their sacrifices, and, rather roguishly, seizes the idea of fanning
the flame to suggest that of _inward flames_ kindled by the arrows of
the little god Cupid, in place of the chaste ardours of the sacred
mysteries. The fans of the priests of Isis, when Isis was a Grecian
divinity, were formed of the wings of a bird, attached to the end of a
long wand, and thus made to resemble the caduceus of Mercury.
The Greeks received the fan from Egypt and Assyria through the
Phœnicians, who were the traders between the east and the west. In the
sarcophagus of Amanthus (Cyprio-Phœnician), representing a train of
horsemen, footmen, and chariots, the horses’ heads are adorned with a
pleated fan crest, similar to that which was used by the Persians; the
figure in the first _biga_ carries a parasol. Thus Perrot and Chipiez
in their description of this monument: ‘The parasol which shades the
head of the great person in the first _biga_ is the symbol of Asiatic
royalty: the fan-shaped plume which rises above the heads of all the
chariot horses, is an ornament that one sees in the same position
in Assyria and Lycia, when the sculptor desires to represent horses
magnificently caparisoned.’
This remarkable example is of the highest interest as showing that the
pleated form—in this instance, doubtless, rigid, and fixed to a short
handle, also seen in both Egyptian and Assyrian monuments—has been
employed from a very remote period.[23]
The earliest Greek fans were, doubtless, branches of the myrtle,
acacia, the triple leaves of the Oriental plantain, and also the leaves
of the lotus, which latter, together with the myrtle, were consecrated
to Venus, were symbols of the _dolce far niente_, and therefore
peculiarly appropriate to this instrument of reposeful ease. The myrtle
bough was also used by the Romans, as we learn from Martial, iii. 82,
serving at the same time as fan and fly-flap—
‘Et aestuanti tenue ventilat frigus
Supina prasino concubina flabello;
Fugátque muscas myrteâ puer virgâ.’
[Illustration]
[Illustration: Terra Cotta Statuettes.
British Museum.]
The single leaf or heart-shaped fan occurs constantly in Greek
terra-cottas; a number of examples are to be seen in the British and
other Museums. In the Victoria and Albert Museum is a charming little
winged Amor, draped, tripping gaily along, hiding his face behind
a fan of this shape. Blondel refers to a female figure in the Louvre,
seated at a feast, holding a leaf-fan; also in a fresco at Pompeii
a figure is seen holding a fan which this author mistakes for that
of a different shape, but which is really a perspective view of the
plantain-leaf. We see the triform leaf-fan in the hands of a Tanagra
figure in the collection of Louis Fould, illustrated in the _Gazette
des Beaux-Arts_ for 1860; this, as well as a number of Tanagra figures,
evidently representing priestesses of Venus. It is impossible to
determine with any degree of accuracy the material and construction of
these fans: in some instances they are evidently stretched on a frame,
and adorned with ornament either painted or embroidered; occasionally,
also, the decorative motif is that of the natural veining of the leaf;
the handles being usually very short, in many cases scarcely visible.
The slight vestiges of colour remaining on these statuettes must in no
instance be taken as suggesting the colouring of the original fans.
The business of the Tanagra sculptor was to make a _statuette_ and
not a portrait of any particular fan; the colouring of the fan of the
statuette would therefore be determined by the general colour scheme of
which it formed a part.
The circular fan of peacocks’ feathers appears as early as the fifth
century B.C., and even at this date had already been used in Asia Minor.
References to the feather-fan are of constant occurrence in the
writings of Greek authors. A slave in the _Orestes_ of Euripides
exclaims: ‘After the Phrygian fashion I chanced with the close circle
of feathers to be fanning the gale, that sported in the ringlets of
Helen.’
Instances of the feather-fan are common on Greek vases,—on the
Campanian Hydra (F. 212), British Museum, the shape in this instance
being that of the reversed heart. In the fourth vase room, on an
oil-flask, with Aphrodite seated in the lap of Adonis, a figure
appears holding a very large fan, but similar in shape to the first
mentioned; and on the Apulian Hydra, F. 352, a fan appears which is
evidently a conventional representation of the peacock feather-fan. The
long-handled fan was also adopted by the Greeks, these being waved by
servants or attendants, as in Egypt.
The Etruscans, amongst whom the luxury of the fan is early seen, and
who transmitted it later to the Romans, used the peacock feathers, of
different lengths, in a semicircle: such a fan appears on a large vase
in the Louvre.
[Illustration: FROM AN APULIAN HYDRA. (British Museum.)]
On an Etruscan crater, representing Heracles strangling the serpents,
surrounded by the greater gods, a fan of plain feathers is held in
the hand of one of the attendants. On a sarcophagus at Vulci, found
in the winter of 1845-6, a female figure appears waving a large fan,
ῥιπίς, identical in shape with fans used in India at the present
day. In the Grotta del Sole e della Luna (tomb of the Sun and Moon)
at Vulci, discovered in 1830, one of the ceilings has a singular
fan-pattern, given in _Mon. Ined. Inst._, i. tav. xli., the counterpart
of which is found in two tombs at Cervetri, whence we may conclude it
was no uncommon decoration in Etruscan houses.[24]
In the Museo Gregorio, Rome, are half-a-dozen handles of fans, with
holes for threads or wire, to tie in feathers or leaves.
[Illustration: The Rape of Helen. ‘Vernis Martin.’
Lady Lindsay.]
‘The fashion of the fan,’ says M. de Linas,[25] ‘was probably
introduced into Italy in the sixth century B.C. We learn from
Dionysius of Halicarnassus, that Aristodemus, tyrant of Cumæ, and
ally of Porsenna, corrupted the youths of this town by making them
effeminate buffoons, accompanied by followers who carried the flabellum
and umbrella.’
The fan, although perhaps in less constant use by the Romans, was still
an article of very general employment. In the _Eunuchus_ of Terence we
are introduced to a pretty scene in which the fan plays an important
part. Chaerea is relating to Antipho his good fortune with the fair
Thais:
CHAEREA. While I was revolving these things in my mind, the virgin
meanwhile was called away to bathe; she goes, bathes, and returns,
after which they laid her on a couch; I stand waiting to see if they
had any orders for me. At last, one came up and said—‘Here, Dorus,
take this fan, and, while we are bathing, fan her thus. When we have
done you may bathe too, if you have a mind.’ I take it very demurely.
ANTIPHO. I could have then wished to see that impudent face of thine,
and the awkward figure so great a booby must make holding a fan.
CHAEREA. Scarce had she done speaking, when in a moment they all
hurried out of the room, and ran to the bath in a noisy manner, as is
usual when masters are absent. Meantime, the virgin falls asleep. I
steal a private glance thus, with the corner of my eye, through the
fan; at the same time look round everywhere, to see if the coast was
quite clear....
The Romans employed the fly-flap (_muscarium_) formed of peacocks’
feathers, which was often provided with a long handle, so that the fan
could be waved by a servant (_flabellifer_), who protected his mistress
from the insects during sleep.
Plautus, _Trinummus_, II. i., refers to these _flabilliferae_, but in
this instance the term is obviously applied to female fan-bearers.
Propertius, II. xxiv. 11, speaks of _flabella_ of the tail feathers of
the peacock.
The peacock fly-flap is also referred to by Martial, xiv. 67:
‘What, from thy food, repels profaning flies,
Strutted, a gorgeous train, with Gemmy eyes.’
‘Lambere quae turpes prohibet tua prandia muscas,
Alitis eximiae cauda superba fuit.’
The same author, III. lxxii. 10-11, says of Zoilus that when overcome
by the heat, a pleasant coolness is wafted about him with a leek-green
flabellum.
The Romans also adopted the tail of the yak, but this last, which
appears to have been imported from India, was not so commonly used as
the tabellæ, a species of fan of square or circular shape, formed of
precious wood or very finely cut ivory, referred to by Ovid in the
third book of his _Amores_. ‘Wouldst thou,’ he exclaims, ‘have an
agreeable zephyr to refresh thy face? This tablet agitated by my hand
will give you this pleasure.’ Those also were the fans the young Roman
exquisites carried when accompanying their mistresses along the Via
Sacra, fanning them gallantly, representations of which appear on vases
in the Louvre.[26]
Propertius, also, in the fourth book of his _Elegies_, represents
Hercules as seated at the feet of Omphale, fan in hand.
[Illustration: FROM AN ETRUSCAN VASE. (British Museum.)]
[Illustration: An Eastern Potentate taking tea. finely painted in
gouache on gold ground, French, c. 1780. stick modern.
Mrs Hungerford Pollen]
CHAPTER III
FANS OF THE FAR EAST
INDIA
[Illustration]
It is difficult for the Western mind to realise the degree of
importance assumed by the fan, the fly-flap, and the umbrella, in
the countries of the Far East, especially India; these objects
being regarded with an affection almost, indeed actually, amounting
to reverence. Its primal cause is to be found in the overpowering
insistence of the sun’s rays, and the sense of grateful relief afforded
by shade and disturbance of the air. To discover its origin we must
look back, beyond the age of legendary lore, to actual mythology, when
we find representations of the Puranic snake gods of India with the
sacred umbrella over their heads, attended by Cherubim waving the fan
and the fly-flap. Similarly we find the sacred five- or seven-headed
cobra itself assuming the office of sunshade, uprearing its hood to
form a canopy for Buddha or for the Hindoo gods.
In the _Mahábhárata_, the ancient epic of Hindostan, we have a
description of the death of the monarch Pândou, in which great crowds
assemble at the bier to do homage to the dead, bringing offerings of
fly-flaps and white umbrellas, the latter having each a hundred ribs
of pure gold, the donors thereby ensuring for themselves a place in
Paradise.
In the same epic, the poet represents the sacred Karna, in the midst
of the acclamations of victory, seated majestically upon his throne,
beneath the emblems of the umbrella, the fan, and the fly-flap; these
being regarded as the most solemn symbols of state throughout the East.
Thus, the title of the King of Burmah is ‘Lord of the twenty-four
umbrellas,’ this being the number always borne before the Emperor of
China upon every state occasion, and accompanying him even to the
hunting-field.[27]
The connection between this umbrella-reverence and primitive
tree-worship is abundantly established, both having their origin in
climatic conditions. On the Sanchi Tope is figured the sacred flowering
Sal tree (beneath which Gautama Buddha died at Kasia), surmounted by
two _Chhatras_, these, together with the tree, being adorned with
garlands. Again, on the Great Tope at Buddha Gaya, B.C. 250, erected in
front of the sacred Bo tree (_Ficus religiosa_), beneath which Gautama
attained to the Buddhahood, are umbrellas hung with garlands. Also
in a Thibetan picture of the death of Gautama given in Dr. Waddell’s
_Buddhism of Thibet_, we see a garlanded and festooned umbrella in the
centre over Buddha, with attendants waving fly-flaps, and on the right
a large standard fan.
So deeply rooted, indeed, is the reverence for the umbrella, and so
completely in the minds of the populace are these objects identified
with regal power, that, upon the occasion of the visit of the Prince
of Wales (King Edward VII.) to India, it was deemed necessary for his
Royal Highness to appear beneath a golden umbrella on an elephant in
order that his sovereign dignity might be demonstrated.
In the manuscript of Nieder Muenster of Ratisbon, now in the library
at Munich, we find a curious blending of the tree and umbrella form,
introduced as accessories in representations of the four evangelists,
doubtless merely intended as conventional floral forms, but evidently
the work of some monkish illuminator who had become influenced by
Oriental mythology.
In Ratisbon, also, is an illumination of Christ bearing the cross, to
one arm of which is attached a half-closed umbrella, reproduced in
_Curiosités Mystérieuses_. ‘Le pommeau,’ says the chronicler, ‘est orné
de ce que les Romains nomment Ombrellino (petit dais en parasol). S’il
s’agissait à coup sûr de ce baldaquin (qui est le propre de certains
dignitaires) nous pourrions rappeler que ce mot figurait déjà dans
l’étiquette impériale avant Constantin.’[28]
On Attic and other Greek vases of the third and fourth century B.C., to
quote Sir George Birdwood, it is often very difficult to distinguish
the fan from the umbrella. ‘Where it is distinctly an umbrella, it
is either of the peaked Assyrian form, or of the dome-(‘rondel’
of Valentijin, etc., and ‘arundels’ of Fryer) topped Indian form
(chhatra); and when it is distinctly a fan, it is usually of the Indian
type, determined by the fan palm frond and the peacock feather, and
rarely of the Egyptian type determined by the date-palm and the ostrich
feather.’
In the early Persian bas-reliefs, says Chardin in his _Voyages_, the
kings of Persia are frequently represented in the act of mounting on
horseback surrounded by beautiful slaves; the duty of one being that
of holding an umbrella over the head of the monarch. This, not only
for the purpose of protecting the sovereign from the rays of the sun,
but also to demonstrate his absolute right of life and death over both
prisoners and subjects.
Umbrellas formed an important feature in the Greek Bacchic processions.
Aristophanes refers to white umbrellas and baskets, signifying
pomp and joy, as being intended to recall to men the acts of Ceres
and Proserpine, and constantly borne by virgins at all religious
ceremonials.
In a miniature in the Royal Library at Paris, of Sivaji on the march, a
sayiban or sun-fan is seen, having an arrangement of drapery in form of
a curtain or valance.[29] Here we discover a point of contact between
the fan and the umbrella, although it is probable that in this instance
its use as a shade-giving instrument had not developed.
A much closer form-connection, however, between fan and umbrella is
seen in the simple leaf section of the Palmyra palm, cut level at the
top, used by the natives in most parts of India. This assumes exactly
the shape of the pleated fan, the pleating formed by Nature’s deft
hands. The large Cingalese umbrella used by headsmen and at weddings is
of the same shape, made of the young leaves of the talipot palm, often
richly decorated with plaited patterns in various colours, and with
mica inlay. Of similar form, also, is the sacred processional parasol
of the Indian Mussulmans (Shia sect) and the Hindus.
The fan, therefore, must be considered as part of a continuous
development from the umbrella symbol of might and power, employed
equally in the East as in the West, and the infinitude of military and
processional fan-like standards and sceptral fans, to the hand-fan and
fly-whisk.
We discover a direct affinity between the hissing of the wind through
the open metal mouth and silken bag of the Roman Dragon standard,
and the beating of the wings of the Norse Raven, used for a similar
purpose; between the Assyrian disc standards with the divine archer
standing on the sacred bull, and the cruciferal discs employed at a
more recent date in Christian Church ceremonial; between the chauri
waved over the head of Krishna, and the wafting of divine influence
by the angelic attendants upon the Saviour in early Christian
missal-painting.
The _alums_ or _allums_ used in the Moharram procession in India are
analogous to the standards used by the Greeks and Romans, and those
figured on the gates of the Sanchi Tope, consisting not only of flags
and banners, but of all sorts of devices in metal, raised on the top of
a long staff and carried to battle.[30]
[Illustration: CINGALESE SĒSATA
(Made of the leaf of the talipot palm, enriched with plates of mica,
the handle lacquered wood; length, including handle, 7 feet.)]
The Cingalese Sēsata, a ceremonial fan for royal and religious use,
or for attendance upon great personages, consists of an embroidered
cloth disc, or talipot leaf, decorated with images of the sun, moon,
etc., with mica and other materials introduced, mounted on a lacquered
staff. Tenants of the first rank attend the Disvāta (lord chief) on
journeys, convey his orders, carrying the great banner, state umbrella,
and Sēsata.[31] A smaller disc-fan, the disc covered with crimson
velvet, the handle about fifteen inches long, of carved ivory, richly
inlaid, occurs in the Louvre.
The royal standard, banner, or ensign, employed in India, composed of
peacocks’ feathers, is illustrated in a MS. copy of the Akbar-Namah
(_c._ 1597), the form being circular, and also that of a somewhat
elongated semicircle.
[Illustration]
The fly-flap, chowr, chowrie, chourie, chaurie, is next in dignity to
the umbrella, and was in the first instance devoted to the service of
the gods. On a bas-relief of the pagoda of Elephanta, described by the
Orientalist Langlés in his _History of Hindostan_, a servant is seen
behind Brahma and Indra holding in each hand chauries or fly-whisks. In
the India Museum is a charming little chaurie with silver handle and
ribbons of silver gauze tipped with red silk, used by Jains to drive
away insects from their idol without destroying them.
[Illustration: FLY-WHISK
(From a painting on talc. Madras. Nineteenth century.)]
Chauries are formed of various materials—of ivory, the strips of
which are sometimes cut to incredible fineness for such a substance;
in these cases the handles are formed of the same material, richly
carved—of the bushy tail of the Himalayan yak, both black and white,
the handles either of metal, ivory, or wood—of sandalwood, also cut
into the finest possible strips, the handles richly carved; the waving
of these chauries emitting a fine fragrance—of the stripped quills of
the larger birds, more generally the peacock—of horse-hair and the
various grasses. The handles were often formed of the horns of various
animals; an example occurs in the Horniman Museum, in which instance it
is the antelope. The chaurie from the tail of the yak was in ancient
India fixed upon a gold or ornamented shaft between the ears of the
war-horse, like the plume of the war-horse of chivalry; the banner or
banneret, with the device of the chief, rose at the back of the
car. ‘The waving chaurie on the steed’s broad brow points backwards,
motionless as a picture.’[32]
[Illustration: Quill, & Sandal Wood Chauries, Peacock Emblem of
Royalty, Yak, & Ivory Chauries.
India Museum.]
This, it will be seen, is in strict conformity to the usage of the
ancient Egyptians, who employed the tall fan emblem in a precisely
similar way; these proud plumes serving a double purpose—an ornamental,
and, in the case of Egypt, even an heraldic purpose, and also the
purely utilitarian one of affording the animal some relief from fly
pests.
The peacock has ever been regarded as a sacred bird, both by the
peoples of the East and the West. The Greek fable of Argus the
hundred-eyed, the sleepless guardian of Io, serves to connect the idea
of extreme vigilance with that of true kingship, _i.e._ the universal
preserver and father of the people. The peacock therefore presented a
double significance to the minds of the Hindu peoples; it expressed
the vigilance of kingship together with its magnificence. The peacock
feather emblem of royalty is the sign or insignia of the king’s high
office, and the principal evidence of his sovereignty: wherever a king
appears he is accompanied by an attendant bearing this emblem, which
appears in all pictorial or other representations of royalty.
It was, doubtless, in the first instance a fly-flap, and is either
composed entirely of feathers, or, it consists of a bunch of
feathers enclosed two-thirds of the distance in a silver casing,
usually ornamented with an imbricated pattern; the handle also of
silver. Several examples of this object appear in the India Museum,
and numberless representations occur in sculpture, illumination,
embroidery, etc.
The poet Valmiki tells of the sumptuous sceptre, studded with jewels,
prepared for the sacrifices to Rama—a magnificent fan with a radiant
garland resembling the full moon in the clear night sky.
[Illustration: EMBLEM OF ROYALTY
(From an illumination of a Court reception by the King of Oudh.)]
The word punkhá, or pankhá, from pankh, a feather, a bird, is a generic
term applied in India to all fans, pankhi meaning a small fan. This
derivation serves as an indication of the early use of the plumed fan
in India, which divides honours with the palm-leaf fan in point of
antiquity, and doubtless also as suggesting a similarity between the
beating of a bird’s wings and the movement of the fan.
The earliest plumed fans probably consisted of a pair of complete wings
set shoulder to shoulder, resembling the caduceus of Mercury, which
was regarded as a symbol of happiness, peace, and concord, the wings
expressing diligence.
Feather-fans assume all manner of shapes, as the large round
banner-fans already referred to; the familiar crescent-like form
with a short handle set horizontally at its base; and the various
hand-screens, these either composed entirely of peacocks’ feathers,
the breast and neck feathers forming a pattern in the centre, with a
border of tail feathers; or, the centre formed of plaited pith and cane
of various colours, beetles’ wings, etc., with the border again of
feathers; the handles being of cane or wood, or of wood covered with
cane strippings or other material.
[Illustration: ROYAL STANDARDS
(From a MS. copy of the Akbar-Namah. Sixteenth century.)]
In Persia and Arabia, from the first centuries of our era, fans were
made of ostrich feathers, many being ornamented with that form of
inscription which is such a leading feature of the decorative art of
these countries.
[Illustration: Large Hand Fan of Sandal Wood, Indian. 18th Cent.
pierced & carved.
Mrs Hungerford Pollen.]
The crescent-shaped hand-fan also dates from a very early period.
In its primitive form, it is seen in the painted decoration of the
Buddhist cave-temples of Ajanta (first century B.C. to eighth
century A.D.), the example given being probably ornamented with strips
or panels of mica, the constructional portion of cane or pith.
[Illustration: HAND-FAN
(From the cave paintings at Ajanta.)]
A variant of this form, still more simple in its construction, is seen
in one of the sculptured roundels of the Buddhist tope at Amaravati,
Southern India, _circa_ second century A.D.; an attendant upon a great
personage waves a circular fan, having the handle stretched across the
face, with a circular opening near the lower edge to enable the handle
to be gripped. All the foregoing types obtain at the present day, and
are as modern as they are ancient.
[Illustration: PLAITED GRASS-FAN
(From the Amaravati Tope.)]
The flag form of fan is, if possible, a still more remarkable instance
of the persistence of certain decorative _motifs_ throughout long
periods of the world’s history. This type, again, is in use at the
present day—the page of examples illustrated are of the mid-nineteenth
century—this identical form appears in the wall-paintings at
Ajanta;[33] it is also seen in Egyptian and Assyrian sculptured
reliefs; it was employed by the Copts from the third to the sixth
century, and earlier in Arabia; it was in general use in Italy during
the period of the Renaissance. There can be no possibility of doubt
that this form of fan was common to the whole of the East and to a
greater portion of the West, and has endured throughout the centuries.
[Illustration: FLAG-FAN
(From the cave paintings at Ajanta.)]
These fans are of two kinds—rigid and flexible; in both instances
they are invariably plaited, the material being stripped palm, bamboo,
ivory, peacock quills, etc. The rigid variety is often placed loose
in the handle, to allow of its being swung round and round like a
policeman’s rattle. See illustration opposite.
The hatchet or halberd shape is a development of the flag form, and
varies from the simple blade to that of a highly ornamental shape.
The material is silk, velvet, cloth or other tissue, often richly
embroidered with gold and silver thread, spangles, beetles’ wings,
etc., with a fringe of either silver tinsel or peacocks’ feathers; the
handles being of wood, cane, or silver. These are at present largely
made at Delhi.
Occasionally the fan is entirely formed of threaded glass beads of
various colours forming a pattern upon a wire framework, with a fringe
of tinsel, the handle also overlaid with beads.
The primitive palm-fan occurs on the oldest Hindostani bas-reliefs,
and is described by the poets. This primeval fan still forms part
of the attire of certain Buddhist priests in Siam, and from it they
take their name of ‘Talapoins’; the fan’s name being ‘talapat,’ or
‘palm-tree-leaf’ in the Siamese language.
[Illustration: ‘TALAPAT’ FAN
PANKHÂ. (Embroidered velvet, with silver handle. Moorshedabad. India
Museum.)
FROM AN ILLUMINATION]
This form (the reversed heart) is common to both the smaller hand-fans
and the larger ceremonial and processional fans. The natural palm-leaf
is employed, trimmed to the required shape, and used either plain,
or painted in brilliant colours, or forming a base for a covering of
embroidery, feathers or stuffs, as in the example from Moorshedabad
(illustrated), which is of velvet, embroidered with silver.
[Illustration: Flag Fans, split palm & bamboo. 19th. Cent. Beaded Fan,
& Palm Leaf Fan with mica insertions.
India Museum.]
The lateral form, in which the leaf is set sidewise on the stem,
follows the same principle of decorative development. It is used
plain, painted, inlaid with talc as in the example illustrated, is
embroidered with silk, spangles, beetles’ wings, etc.; it also supplies
the shape or decorative _motif_ for fans of a different material, as
in the instance of the four long-handled fans, forming portion of the
Burmese regalia, obtained from Mandalay in 1885, examples of a barbaric
splendour only to be found in the gorgeous East. These are of gold,
jewelled with rubies and the ‘nan-ratan’ or nine stone, the handles
overlaid with gold and also jewelled.
Amongst fans formed of the more precious materials is a disc-shaped fan
of gold, set with cabochon sapphires, an offering dedicated by Kīrti
Ṡri to the ‘Tooth relic.’[34] Figured in _Mediæval Sinhalese Art_,
A. K. Coomaraswarmy.
In the collection of the Baroness Salomon de Rothschild at Paris is a
fan of jade, richly studded with jewels.
[Illustration: FAN OF GOLD
(Forming portion of the Burmese Regalia. India Museum.)]
Fans are also made of the sweet-scented Khaskhás root (_Andropogon
muricatus_), and as these are generally used after being wetted, they
impart to the air a cool fragrance; they are often highly ornamented
with gold and silver spangles, gold thread, tinsel, beetles’ wings,
etc., and occasionally provided with ivory handles. A pretty example
occurs at Kew, where there is an excellent collection of fans made
of the various vegetable substances. Fans of talc, decorated with
exquisite illumination, were made at Tanjore during the eighteenth
century. Specimens occur in the India Museum, South Kensington.
[Illustration: PORTION OF AN EMBROIDERED MUSLIN NAPKIN. (Chamba.
Nineteenth century.)]
Representations of the fan are of constant occurrence in Indian work,
both illumination, embroidery, sculpture, and other material. On a
curiously primitive embroidered napkin from Chamba, we are introduced
to the worship of a Hindu deity—a king and queen are kneeling under a
palm-tree, the god Ganesh in the distance with flag-fan; an attendant
bears the peacock feather emblem of royalty, a second attendant waves
a large heart-shaped fan. On a small mat or pad of enamelled leather
(Hyderabad, nineteenth century), we see a whimsical combination of
Krishna and his damsels forming the similitude of an elephant, the
umbrella, pankhá, and two fly-flappers being in evidence.
A beautiful illumination from a MS. copy of the Akbar-Namah, above
quoted, shows a prince seated upon his throne in the act of receiving
offerings; an attendant waves a fly-flap behind the throne, a second
attendant bears one of the large pankhás beautifully embroidered in
gold and colours.
We are also in another illumination introduced to a beautiful flowered
parterre, in which a Mongol princess is seated before a rippling
fountain; attendants wait upon her with fruits, vases containing
unguents, spices, etc.; behind, a female attendant waves the fly-flap.
In the decoration of the entrance gate of the temple at Ajmir, a prince
appears in a howdah on the back of an elephant, an attendant sits
behind waving a fly-flap, a second flabellifer is seated on the head
of the animal; the prince himself holds a small fan in his hand, an
attendant on foot bears the pankhá, and another the insignia of royalty.
Fair and delicate though these creations of Eastern ingenuity may
be, the genius of Oriental imagery and fancy has discovered for us a
still more delicate and effective instrument—a Sanskrit poet recounts
a graceful fable of a princess of extreme beauty, who, although
constantly attending and fanning the divine fire with a view to
increasing the prosperity of her father, never succeeded in producing a
flame save by the breath of her charming lips.
[Illustration]
FANS OF THE FAR EAST—_Continued_
CHINA
[Illustration: CIRCULAR FAN
‘Like the Moon’ borne by the guard of an Imperial concubine.]
Chinese authorities are at variance concerning the invention of the
fan, which has been attributed to the Emperor Hsien Yüan, B.C. 2697;
to the Emperor Shun, B.C. 2255, and to the first ruler of the Chou
dynasty, B.C. 1122.
According to a Chinese legend, it had its origin at the Feast of
Lanterns, where, on an occasion when the heat became particularly
oppressive, the beautiful daughter of a mandarin took off her mask, and
agitated it so as to fan the air into a gentle breeze; the rest of the
fair revellers were so much struck with the grace of the motion that
they one and all let fall their masks and followed the example of the
mandarin’s daughter.
The earliest fans were of the dyed feathers of various birds, and
those of the peacock. We have an account of a present of two fans of
feathers of ‘tsio rouge,’ offered to the Emperor Tchao-wang of the
Chou dynasty, B.C. 1052, by the King of Thou-sieou, and it is affirmed
in the ‘Tchéou-li’ that one of the chariots of the empress carried a
feather-fan for the purpose of keeping the wheels free from dust.
The poet Thou-fou, in the ‘Song of Autumn,’ refers to fans of
pheasants’ feathers as in royal use. The Emperor Kao-Tsong, of the
Chang dynasty, 1323-1266 B.C., having heard the cry of the pheasant, an
omen of good luck, resolved thenceforth to use only fans composed of
the tail feathers of this bird.
[Illustration: Chinese Fan, paper mount, painted, with medallion of The
Visit, stick silver-gilt filigree & enamel, 18th Cent.
Mr M. Tomkinson.]
These have continued in the service of royalty to a late period. A
wing-shaped example, set laterally in a red lacquered handle, appearing
in the hand of an attendant, in a fine painted roll, by Ch’in Ying of
the Ming dynasty, illustrating the occupations of Court ladies, the
larger feathers numbering seven, this being the sacred number composing
the fan, which is the attribute of Chung-li Ch’uan, one of the eight
Taoist Immortals, the seven broad feathers corresponding to the
constellation of seven stars on the left of the moon (Great Bear), the
seat in the Taoist heavens of their supreme deity, Shang Ti, round whom
all the other star gods circulate in homage. This fan is illustrated
on the large lacquered screen at the Victoria and Albert Museum,
representing the Taoist Genii worshipping the god of Longevity, and
constantly figures in pictorial and other representations.
[Illustration: FROM A PAINTED ROLL OF MING DYNASTY
(British Museum.)]
Similar fans with several rows of pointed feathers appear in painted
and decorative work; a curious example being seen in a large drawing
from Tonkin (Louvre). The outer row of feathers, white and pale blue;
the second, yellow; the third, those of the peacock; the body of the
fan, green, red, white, and blue.
In the lacquered screen above referred to, a large fan of this
character is waved over the head of one of the devotees riding aloft on
a cloud, wending his way towards the mountain paradise, the home of the
God.
[Illustration: FAN OF HSI WANG MU
(From a Japanese painting. British Museum.)]
The feather-fan is one of the chief attributes of Hsi Wang Mu, the
famed Queen of the Genii (Royal Mother of the West), whose dwelling
was a mountain palace in Central Asia, where she held Court with her
fairy legions and received the great Taoist Rishis and certain favoured
mortals, and whose amours with the Han Emperor Wu Ti have given much
occupation for both author and artist.[35]
[Illustration: WHITE PLUMED FAN OF HSI WANG MU
(From a painting of the Chinese School of Japan. British Museum.)]
Her fan is borne by one of her four handmaidens, who, like the Dêva
Kings of Mount Sumeru, are severally related to the four points of the
compass. It assumes various shapes, as that of a wing, in the painting
by a pupil of Itcho riū of the Japanese popular school, British
Museum, 1722; a bunch of long pointed plumes set in a bamboo handle, in
the painting (Chinese School of Japan, British Museum, 778), in which
a young girl in deer-skin, standing beneath the sacred peach-tree of
the Immortals, offers the fruit to the goddess who, with her attendant
bearing the fan, appears upon a cloud above the waves.
The queen is also represented with the large pear-shaped screen, as
in the painting of the same school, British Museum, 1022, the screen
decorated with the sun, moon, and clouds. In the painting previously
referred to (No. 1722), the goddess herself holds a smaller pear-shaped
screen. Each of the ‘fore-mentioned paintings are Japanese, but the fan
forms are, unquestionably, taken from older Chinese originals.
[Illustration: Chinese Fan. filigree & enamel.
Victoria & Albert Museum.]
The earliest illustrations, however, of this personage and her fan,
and probably the oldest representations of fans in Chinese art, are
those of the sculptures of the Han dynasty, B.C. 206-A.D. 25. In these,
Hsi-wang Mu, wearing a coroneted hat, is attended by ladies carrying
cup, mirror, and fan. On the same relief the Emperor Mu Wang of the
Chou dynasty, B.C. 1001, is attended by a servitor with fan and towel
or handkerchief. In the frieze forming the lower part of the relief, we
see the ‘Chariot of the Sage’ preceded by two men on foot, with staves
and fans.
[Illustration: PEAR-SHAPED SCREENS
(From paintings in the British Museum.)]
On another of these reliefs, representing the discovery of one of the
sacred bronze tripods, the ancient palladia of the kingdom, the two
commissioners deputed by the Emperor to superintend its recovery from
the river are attended by servitors bearing fans. These are the small
hand-screens (pien-mien) described by M. Rondot as being larger in the
upper part, their shape approaching that of a reversed trapezium with
the angles rounded off.
This same author refers to four screens of white jade (regarded by
the Chinese as the most precious of precious stones), the handles of
an odoriferous amber, that were offered by the Emperor Chun-Hi of
the Southern Sung dynasty, 1174-1190, to his Empress. At this time
the screens were ornamented with incrustation and inscription, which
was much esteemed, and this author quotes a curious passage from the
_Annals of the Thsi_ to the effect that Wang-sun-pen, of Kin-ling,
represented in the space of a few inches a perspective view of rivers,
mountains, valleys, and plains, stretching over a thousand miles of
land. These screen pictures are referred to in the _Ku yü t’ou pu_, an
illustrated catalogue of ancient jade, in one hundred books, compiled
in 1176 by an imperial commission headed by Lung Ta-Yuan, President of
the Board of Rites.
The small hand-screens assume a variety of forms—circular, pear-shaped,
heart-shaped, etc., and are made of various materials, as—(1) The
natural palm leaf, seen in the Chinese painting, British Museum, 37.
(2) The palm leaf cut to various shapes, with a bamboo handle running
up the middle, as in the Japanese example given on page 61. (3) Of
bamboo; from Chinese records we learn that on the fifth day of the
fifth month of the year corresponding to our 219, the Emperor presented
to the members of the Imperial Academy a fan of bamboo, carved and
painted blue. There is also a record of an existing fan of oblong
form, made of bamboo leaf, ornamented with bulrushes, an inscription
on the field of the fan. This dates from the sixth century A.D. (4) Of
the turtle shell: the two portions held together with metal plates,
with a wooden or other handle, examples of which occur in the Musée
Guimet, Paris. (5) Of silk stretched upon a frame, with painted or
other decoration, as in the two charming examples illustrated from
the collection of Mr. W. Crewdson. Both front and reverse are given:
the latter decorated in that system of feather-work much affected by
the Chinese, and in which they display great skill. The feathers are
usually the turquoise tinted plumes of the kingfisher: in the present
instance the design is alternated by an imbrication of peacocks’
feathers. The handles are of carved ivory.
[Illustration: Hand screen, Chinese, painted silk, reverse embroidered
feather work, carved ivory handle.
Mr Wilson Crewdson.]
There are also the cockade screens, usually of ivory or sandalwood.
Representations of the earlier large ceremonial banner screens appear
on a carved pedestal of a Buddhist image, Northern Wei dynasty, A.D.
524; these are oval in form, and are seen in both sculptured and
painted representations down to recent times.
In the Musée Guimet in Paris is a large fan of red lacquer framework
(reversed heart shape) enclosing a series of metal ribs through which
the wind plays; in the centre are painted dragons.
Among the painted representations in the India Museum, of objects from
the Summer Palace at Pekin, is a circular screen, ‘like the moon,’
borne by the guard of an imperial concubine. See illustration, p. 46.
A favourite device for the decoration of these larger screens is that
of the fabled Phœnix, the Ho bird of the Japanese. This is seen in
the painting of the Chinese school of Japan, British Museum, 822, in
which one of the two attendants on a Chinese Emperor carries a long
oval screen bordered with peacocks’ feathers, and ornamented with two
Phœnixes.[36]
We therefore perceive that the ceremonies and customs relating to the
fan, no less than the various forms which this instrument assumed,
were practically identical with the ancient peoples of the East and
West;—the same order of development, having its origin in the natural
suggestion afforded by the wings of birds and of the broader leaved
plants; the fans of the Han dynasty reliefs, their exact counterpart
being found in Egypt and Assyria; the rigid hand-screens corresponding
to those tabellæ which the Romans derived from the Greeks, who in turn
received them from the peoples of Asia Minor, and which, doubtless,
had their origin in the more remote East; the employment of the fan in
both religious and civil ceremonial and in war.[37]
Among the Bat Bu’u (eight precious things) carried at the end of staves
by the inhabitants of Annam in their ceremonial processions, is a fan
(Quat) symbolising the graceful perfection of the form of woman, and
the light breeze that tempers the heat of the summer sun.[38] These Bat
Bu’u are made in three ways—
1. Of carved wood lacquered and gilt.
2. Of tin or pewter.
3. In the form of transparencies to be lighted from within.
A huge wooden fan is carried as part of the insignia of a mandarin’s
procession.[39]
The invention of the folding-fan is generally credited to the ingenious
little inhabitants of the land of the rising sun; its date, however,
as well as its precise character, is impossible to determine with
anything approaching to accuracy. Tradition says that it was designed
by an artist who lived in the reign of the Emperor Jen-ji, about
670 A.D., and was formed upon the principle of the construction of
a bat’s wing, this being in conformity with the general usage of
Japanese designers, who derived their artistic _motifs_ from natural
constructive forms. The date of its introduction into China is also
a matter of considerable uncertainty: we have a reference to it in a
Chinese work of the date 960, to the effect that the tsin-theou-chen,
or folding-fan, was introduced by Tchang-ping-hai, and was supposed to
be offered as a tribute by the barbarians of the south-east, who came,
holding in their hands the pleated fan, which occasioned much laughter
and ridicule. All Chinese authors agree, however, that it was the
invention of foreigners, _i.e._ the Japanese, who, together with the
Tartars, possessed folding-fans before they were known in China.[40]
[Illustration: Chinese Fan, paper mount, painted & richly gilt, red
lacquered stick.
Miss Moss.]
M. Rondot records the fact that at first, only courtesans made use of
folding-fans, honest women carried round screens.[41]
Since the appearance of the folding-fan, various materials have been
pressed into its service, including ivory, tortoise-shell, lacquer,
mother of pearl, the various woods—especially sandalwood, the more
precious metals, silk, skin, and paper.
No nation possesses a keener appreciation of ivory as a vehicle for
artistic expression than the Chinese, whose carved balls in concentric
spheres of open work are the wonder of western peoples. Ivory fans date
from a very remote period, it is believed as early as 990 B.C., and are
marvels of patient ingenuity.
The Imperial Ivory Works within the palace at Peking was founded toward
the close of the seventeenth century, and became the centre for the
best production in this delicate material.
Ivory fans are either of pierced flat open work, or elaborately carved
with subjects, the backgrounds of which are formed by delicate ribbing,
imparting a lightness and softness to the fan not obtainable by any
other means. An extraordinarily skilful example is the cockade-fan in
the Wyatt collection at South Kensington; this, together with several
others in the same collection, have monograms in cursive European
characters, and were executed to the order of Europeans. In each
instance the blades are connected by means of a ribbon running through
the whole. One example only of these fans is given; that bearing the
word ‘Angela’—fitting name of the gentle lady whose memory is revered
wherever the English language is spoken.
Tortoise-shell is carved with the same consummate skill as ivory, and
on the same principle of delicate piercing and ribbing. Two such fans
occur in the Wyatt collection, profusely decorated in relief with
figures of horsemen, buildings, boats, and flowers. The material,
which is softened both by warm water and dry heat, is obtained from
the loggerhead turtle of the Malay Archipelago and Indian Ocean,
and imported to Canton, a centre both for tortoise-shell and ivory
workers. An extremely effective and picturesque fan is that in the same
collection, formed of the feathers of the Argus pheasant, cut short to
the fan shape, the sticks of carved tortoise-shell. In this the colours
of the feathers harmonise extremely well with the translucent red brown
of the tortoise-shell.
This material is also lacquered, one of the earliest and most prized
of the Chinese arts, and the technique of which is fully described in
the _Ko ku yao lun_, a learned work on antiquities published in the
reign of Hung Wu, the founder of the Ming dynasty, 1387. This substance
is obtained from the lac-tree (_Rhus vernicifera_), cultivated for
the purpose throughout Central and Southern China. The tree exudes a
resinous sap that becomes black upon its exposure to the air, the sap
being extracted from the tree at night, during the summer months, and
dried, ground, and strained through hempen cloth to an evenly flowing
liquid, which is applied by the brush.
Gold plays an important part both in the composition of the lacquer
itself, to which it imparts a richness and pellucidity which is
extremely beautiful, and also in its subsequent decoration. The fan and
case of Canton lacquer in the Wyatt collection are richly decorated
with panels of buildings and gardens, on a diapered background,
overlaid with flowers, butterflies, and other devices, and are
excellent examples of Chinese gold lacquer, an art which, although
originating in China, has been somewhat neglected, and has, at a later
period, been brought by the Japanese to a greater perfection than the
Chinese have at any time attained.
[Illustration: Lacquered Fan.
Lady Northcliffe]
[Illustration: Carved Ivory Fan, with name ‘Angela’.
Mr W. Burdett-Coutts. M.P.]
Sandalwood is largely employed for fans, on account of its lightness,
the ease with which it is worked, and also its fine aroma. The tree
is indigenous to India, and is imported by the Chinese, who employ it
for a variety of purposes, including the perfumed joss-sticks which
are common throughout the East. These fans are worked on the same
principle of flat piercing as those of ivory. They are also carved in
relief, but can scarcely be said to rival the last-named substance with
its delicate variety of translucent softness. The large fan at South
Kensington is a good example.
Mother of pearl is a favourite material for fan-sticks on account of
its beautiful play of iridescent colour. A number of fans of Chinese
workmanship, both of mother of pearl and ivory, have found their way
to Europe and have been remounted. Such a fan is that in the Wyatt
collection with a subject finely painted on chicken skin by Eugène
André.
Bamboo has already been referred to as in early use. It is extensively
employed for the cheaper fans on account of its durability as well as
cheapness. The number of ribs vary from sixteen to thirty-six; the
former may be regarded as the standard number.
The art of filigree is practised by the Chinese with the most
consummate skill; it is occasionally in gold, but more often in silver
gilt, the gilding being employed for the double purpose of preventing
tarnishing and for decorative effect. Filigree work is often enriched
by means of inlay, either enamel, or the turquoise feathers of the
kingfisher, which latter, however, are merely gummed on the surface of
the metal, and, as a consequence, are wanting in durability.
Enamelling has been practised in western Asia from a very early
period, _i.e._ previous to the Christian era, and is believed to have
reached China about the thirteenth century. There are two kinds, both
accomplished by the process known as incrustation—cloisonné, in which
the pattern is raised on the surface of the metal by soldering on to it
metal or wire strips of copper, silver, or gold, thus forming a series
of cells or cloisons; and champlevé, in which the cell-walls enclosing
the pattern are either modelled and cast, or cut and hollowed out of
the metal itself by means of graving tools: in both, the pattern is
filled in with enamel.
Of the colours, there are two well-contrasted shades of blue—a dark
tint made from cobalt and resembling the lapis-lazuli tone, and a light
sky blue or turquoise; several greens made from copper, a dark coral
red, a fine yellow, black, and white.
Chinese enamels are usually fired in the open courtyard, protected only
by a primitive cover of iron network, the charcoal fire being regulated
by a number of men standing round with large fans in their hands.[42]
Of the interesting fans in which the combined arts of filigree
and enamel are employed we give a charming example from the Wyatt
collection at South Kensington. In this, the effective colour scheme
is that of the two blues and gold; the design being a conventional
rendering of a Phœnix and foliage. In the colour plate given of the fan
in the collection of Mr. M. Tomkinson, the leaf has a large cartouche
in the centre representing a Chinese garden, with the hostess welcoming
a visitor who has arrived on horseback, the servant bringing tea. On
either side are small medallions of a sun-dial and a broken column,
evidently introduced to the order of a European patron.
Of the familiar class of fans having large compositions of figures
of which the heads are of applied ivory, painted, the costumes of
silk appliqué, the sticks of ivory elaborately carved, the example
illustrated from the collection of Mr. Burdett-Coutts belonged to a
mandarin of the first rank. A beautiful example was formerly in the
possession of
[Illustration: Chinese Fan with ivory miniatures
Mr W. Burdett-Coutts. M.P.]
H.I.M. the Empress Eugénie,[43] the stick of sandalwood. The brins of
these fans, twelve in number, are occasionally varied, as follows:—Two
of white ivory, pierced and carved; two of silver filigree and
enamel; two of ivory, pierced and carved, coloured scarlet; two of
tortoise-shell, carved and pierced; two of engraved white pearl; and
two of gilt filigree enamel. The panaches of gilt filigree, with silver
dragons in relief. An example occurs in the collection of Mr. Messel,
another was in the possession of the late Mr. R. W. Edis.
Almost every important city or district in China has its characteristic
fan—something distinctive in the make, colour, or ornamentation of the
folding-fan, which is the fan _par excellence_ in the Chinese mind.
The convenience of this fan will at once be apparent—it occupies but
little space, it may, when not in use, be stuck in the high boot of the
full-dressed Chinaman, or in the ample folds of his dress.
These fans are made to suit every class of society from mandarin to
peasant—to suit the changing seasons, in different sizes in proportion
to the quantity of breeze required. The Son of Heaven, during the
sultry summer months, employs fans of feathers, and during winter of
silk. Fashion, however, lays down inexorable laws as to the time and
period of their use, and to be seen with a fan too early or too late in
the year is considered as _mauvais ton_. A poem by Ow-Yang Hisu informs
us that ‘In the tenth moon the people of the capital turn to their warm
fans.’
During the warm weather the fan forms part of the ceremony of
tea-drinking; the host takes his fan as soon as tea is drunk, and,
bowing to the company, says, ‘Thsing-chen’ (I invite you to fan
yourselves); each guest immediately using his fan with great gravity
and modesty. It is considered a breach of etiquette to be without a fan
on such an occasion, or to refrain from its use.[44]
The Chinese have exhausted every species of ingenuity in the
construction of fans of an _outré_ character. The ‘broken fan,’ a
curious trick, is to all intents and purposes a simple folding-fan, and
opened from left to right presents no feature uncommon. On being opened
to the _reverse_, the whole fan appears to fall to pieces, each bone,
with the part attached, being separated from the other as though the
connecting strings were broken: the principle is extremely simple, but
the effect is surprising.
A fan which has been styled the ‘impracticable,’ is of circular form,
the radiants of ivory, tortoise-shell, sandalwood, or metal filigree,
perforated to such a degree as to render it useless as a means of
disturbing the air. These are elaborately carved with figures,
scroll-work, and other designs, or with birds, flowers, etc., in silver
gilt filigree.
The ‘double-entente’ fan, opened in the ordinary manner, exhibits some
harmless _motif_ such as a flower, bird, or landscape; opened the
reverse way, it discloses a ribald sketch that would entail severe
penalties on its maker if discovered. The Peking variety shows two such
pictures which are not seen when the fan is opened, but are disclosed
by turning back the two end ribs of the fan.
The ‘dagger-fan’ is an invention of the Japanese, its importation
into China being strictly forbidden. In its outward appearance it
is sufficiently harmless, being apparently an ordinary lacquered
folding-fan: in reality it is a sheath containing a deadly blade, short
and sharp, resembling a small Malay kris (see illustration facing page
60). These dagger or stiletto fans are by no means confined to the
East; in the British Museum is a print of an Italian stiletto concealed
in a case made in imitation of a fan; the panaches of ivory, engraved
with Italian arabesques.
[Illustration: Feather Fan, (Argus Pheasant) with embroidered case.
Chinese, early 19th Cent.
Victoria & Albert Museum.]
Inscription fans are common, and exhibit an endless variety of devices.
Some are literary _tours de force_, the most famous being that
associated with the Emperor Chien Wên, of the Liang dynasty, A.D. 550,
and said to be the composition of the monarch himself. This consists
of a couplet of eight characters written in the eight corners of an
octagon fan. On beginning at any one of the eight characters and
reading round the way of the sun, it forms a couplet of perfect sense
and rhythm.
A story is told of a favourite of the Emperor Ch’êng Ti of the Han
dynasty, B.C. 32, whose name was Pan, and who for some time had been
a confidante of his Majesty and the Queen of the Imperial Seraglio.
Having persuaded herself that something more than an ordinary
attachment of the hour existed between herself and the ‘Son of Heaven,’
finding her influence on the wane and being unable to conceal any
longer her mortification, grief, and despair, she forwarded to the
Emperor a circular screen-fan, upon which were inscribed the following
lines expressing the contrast between the summer of her reciprocated
love and the autumn of her desertion:—
‘O fair white silk, fresh from the weaver’s loom,
Clear as the frost, bright as the winter snow—
See, friendship fashions out of thee a fan:
Round as the round moon shines in heaven above;
At home, abroad, a close companion thou;
Stirring at every move the grateful gale,
And yet I fear, ah me! that autumn chills
Cooling the dying summer’s torrid rage,
Will see thee laid neglected on the shelf,
All thought of bygone days, bygone like them.’[45]
From this period, in China, a deserted wife has been called an autumn
fan.
FANS OF THE FAR EAST—_Continued_
JAPAN
[Illustration]
The fan is regarded by the Japanese as an emblem of life, that widens
and expands as the sticks radiate from the rivet or starting-point, and
for this reason is selected for the new-year’s gift.[46] It enters into
almost every affair of the life of the people, from Emperor to peasant;
friends greet each other with a wave of the fan; it is one of the gifts
which the bride takes with her to her husband’s house; it is presented
to the youth on the attainment of his majority;[47] it is used by
jugglers in feats of skill, by the umpires of wrestling matches as
signal, by singers to modulate their voices; the condemned man marches
to the scaffold fan in hand; the executioner does not relinquish his
fan during the performance of his duty.
[Illustration: Netsuki. The Dai Tengu with feather uchiwa.
Mr W. L. Behrens.]
[Illustration: Dagger Fan.
Mr W. L. Behrens.]
[Illustration: Camp Fan of Eagles Feathers, horn handle.
Mr L. C. R. Messel.]
The early history of the fan in the country of Dai Nippon is
substantially the same as in all the countries of the far and nearer
East, and presents us with the same order of development, the earliest
being formed of the primitive palm leaf, or of feathers. We have, in
the story of ‘The Tengus’ a description of the Dai or Master Tengu, who
wears a long grey beard down to his girdle, moustaches to his chin,
and carries in his left hand as a sign of his rank a fan made of
seven wide feathers pointed at the tip: this he waves while singing a
song, doubtless for the purpose of modulating his voice. The fan is
identical in form with that of Chung-li Ch’uan, one of the eight Taoist
immortals, referred to on page 47.
[Illustration: FEATHER-FAN
(From a Japanese painting. British Museum.)]
[Illustration: HAND-SCREEN, BAMBOO HANDLE
(From a Japanese painting. British Museum.)]
The rigid screens received from China at the close of the sixth
century are referred to in the earlier part of this chapter, under
China. Those in use in Japan present no material difference to the
Chinese except in the details of their decorative significance. The
larger screens were employed both in civil and religious ceremonial,
as war standards, and waved by servants in attendance upon royal and
distinguished personages. These latter denoted the rank of the owner,
the material being of silk or other fabric stretched over a wooden
framework, painted or otherwise decorated, the forms extremely varied,
but more usually those of the circle, oval, or pear. The pear-shaped
hand-screen is seen in the hands of Hotei, the fat god of prosperity,
and of Juro, the god of longevity, as an invariable accompaniment of
those divinities. An example is given from a portrait of Lü T’ung-pin,
a Taorist Rishi of the eighth century, by Go-gaku, nineteenth century,
British Museum, 640. This has a red tassel or tail at the end of the
fan, a kind of combination of fan and fly-whip. A similar fan appears
in a painting of the Caligraphic school, British Museum, 1617. This fan
is of Chinese origin, and is constantly represented in the art of that
country.
Fly-whips were also used. Of the representations of the sixteen Arhats
(Buddhist divinities) given in the ‘Butsu zō dzu-i,’ three hold
fly-whips (futsujin) in their hands. This instrument is also seen in
the right hand of Vimalakîrrti, an Indian priest, in the painting
on silk attributed to Shingetsu, Sesshiu school, fifteenth century,
British Museum collection.
The fly-whip or chasse-mouche was also used by generals while on
horseback, this being made of strips of tough paper suspended from a
lacquered handle mounted with bronze.
A list of the more important varieties of Japanese fans, together with
the dates of their introduction, as given by native authorities, will
probably be of service.
Rigid fans or hand-screens, introduced from China, end of sixth
century A.D.
Folding-fans (bamboo), invented by the Japanese, 668-671 A.D.
Gumbai Uchiwa, flat iron battle-fans, eleventh century.
Gun Sen, folding iron battle-fans, twelfth century.
Hi ogi, court-fans, eleventh century.
Mai ogi, dancing-fans, beginning of seventeenth century.
Rikiu ogi, tea-fans, ” ” ”
Water-fans for kitchen use, eighteenth century.
The invention of the folding-fan has already been referred to. Its
earliest form is the Kōmori (bat), so named from the supposition of
the wing of this animal suggesting the principle of its construction.
It is formed of fifteen bamboo sticks having a slight re-divergence
springing from the handle end, so that when held closed in the hand as
it is by courtiers while fulfilling the office of fan-bearing, it still
appears open. It is stated that this spread-out form was adopted as
court-fan on account of the misuse of the dagger-fan. The mount is of
paper, which may be painted with any design in any colour except the
unlucky green and light purple.
[Illustration: Suye hiro ogi. open & closed, decorated with crests on
a gold ground.
Mr W. Harding Smith]
One of the many traditions of its invention may be given. It is
attributed to a fan-maker of the Tenji period, 668-672, whose name is
forgotten, living at Tamba near Kyoto. He was married to a shrew, and
on a certain night a bat having found its way into the sleeping-room,
the woman reviled her husband for not getting up to throw the vampire
out. The animal coming in contact with the lamp, scorched its wings
and fell to the floor. As the man picked it up, the opening of the
creature’s wings suggested to him the principle of a folding-fan that
might be carried in one’s sleeve.[48]
The Suye hiro ogi (wide end) has a similar divergence to the foregoing,
with the addition of a slight curve or rounding of the outward sticks.
It was used for the dances in the Nō drama; the number of sticks
varying from fifteen to twenty-five. This also dates from the seventh
century. The example illustrated is decorated with a series of crests
of various families on a gold ground. In a drawing by Bun-chin,
nineteenth century, British Museum, 891, of Performers in the ‘Nō’
Theatre, is represented a beautiful fan of a peacock with outspread
tail and branches of bamboo, in gold, blue, and green. This fan is of
the ordinary shape.
The Akomé ogi is the earlier court-fan, and dates from the invention
of the folding-fan in the seventh century. It consists of thirty-eight
blades of wood painted white, decorated with cherry, pine, plum, or
chrysanthemum, on a ground of gold and silver powder, ‘among the mist.’
The fan is ornamented at the corners with an arrangement of artificial
flowers in silk, with twelve long streamers of different coloured
silks; the rivet is formed of either a bird or butterfly. This type of
fan was in use by the court ladies until 1868.
By the courtesy of Mr. W. Crewdson we are enabled to reproduce one of
these rare fans, bearing the following inscription:—
‘The decorations at the end of this Akomé-ogi show that it was used
by a court lady. At Kioto, the Mikado’s Palace had Lemon trees at the
right-hand side of the entrance and Cherry trees at the left; hence
these ornaments composed of Cherry flowers and Pine knots.’
The description which Pierre Loti has given us of these fans is so
charming that we cannot refrain from quoting it.
‘They wave with constant motion, or carry shut, their court-fans, on
the pleated silk (?) of which are delicately painted dreamy fancies,
of inexpressible charm, picturing the reflection in the water of
cloud forms, of moons wintry pale, the flight of birds, or showers of
peach blossom wafted by the wind in April mists. At each angle of the
mount is tied an enormous tassel with shades of chenille, the ends of
which trail along the ground, brushing the fine sand at each movement
of the fan.’
The Hi-ogi court-fans are made of the Hi wood (_Chamæcyparis obtusa_),
this being a soft light velvety wood of a beautiful golden brown,
having the additional advantage of immunity from the attacks of
wood-eating insects. The brins are twenty-five in number, fastened with
a metal rivet, and threaded through with silk strings having very long
ends, looped at the top corner of the outer ribs to form a rosette or
other floral device. These fans were first introduced with the simple
ornament of the owner’s crest; afterwards they were painted with great
elaboration and delicacy.
At court ceremonial the Emperor and nobles often bear the Hi-ogi
instead of the Shaku, which is a short staff or sceptre made of wood
(yew) or ivory, generally held vertical in the right hand against the
lower part of the chest, to give the body a more dignified bearing;
when the fan is borne, it is generally carried closed, and held in the
same manner as the Shaku.[49]
Before the age of fifteen a fan of common wood is carried, painted
on the outside, and ornamented with silk threads or strings in five
colours; on his sixteenth birthday the Japanese youth attains his
majority and receives a present of a fan.
[Illustration: Court Lady’s Fan. ‘Akomé Ogi’.
Mr. Wilson Crewdson.]
[Illustration: War Fan. ‘Gun Sen.’
Mr W. Harding Smith.]
The code regulating all the details of court ceremonial is absolute,
and always observed; the use of ivory for the Shaku is confined to the
highest ranks, or the most important ceremonial; no noble could use an
ivory Shaku on any occasion. The various usages connected with the fan
are subjected to similar restrictions.
Ladies carried in place of the Shaku the Hi-ogi.
A fan of special make and design is used by the Empress, and its use
is forbidden to any subject. The blades are twenty-three in number,
connected with a white silk ribbon. The decoration is confined to the
chrysanthemum, pine, orange blossom, plum, or Camellia Japonica. The
ribbon rosettes or loops, affixed to the top of the outer blades, are
arranged in keeping with the particular flower which is represented on
the fan; these have seven long streamers, four feet long, of different
colours. The rivet also is of a particular kind—_paper string_.[50]
Chūkei are fans borne by priests and nobles; these have a
re-divergence at the ends, and date from the period of the
introduction of the folding-fan; they are often painted with the most
consummate skill, reflecting the best traditions of Japanese art. Many
of these paintings exist; in most cases the leaves have been removed
from the sticks and mounted as pictures.
Fabulous stories are extant recounting the marvellous accomplishment
of the painters of the earlier epochs; amongst these is an account of
Tadahira, who is said to have painted upon a fan a cuckoo which uttered
its characteristic note whenever the fan was opened, and of Tsunenori,
who drew a lion so life-like that other beasts fled from it.
The leading schools of Japanese painting are the Buddhist,
Yamato-Tosa. Chinese, Sesshiu Kano, Matahei (popular), Korin,
Shijō (naturalistic), and Ukiyo; each of these has well-marked
characteristics preserved even to the present day.
The art of Japan was to a great extent founded upon, and is in certain
directions a development of, that of the older civilisation of China.
The earliest artist, therefore, recorded in Japanese annals, is a
Chinese, Nanriu by name, of royal descent, who came to Japan about the
end of the fifth century; but of this master, and of his immediate
successors, there are no known examples.
It was in the succeeding century, upon the introduction of Buddhism
into Japan, that we find the first establishment of a school of
Japanese art, initiated by the Chinese and Coreans, and dedicated to
the mural decoration of Buddhistic temples.
From the sixth to the ninth centuries, the history of Japanese painting
is more or less clouded in doubt, and the first great artist who
emerges from the general obscurity is Kanaoka (ninth century), although
the few examples extant which are attributed to this painter are
doubted by the best experts.
The Yamato-Tosa school, though the direct outcome of the study
of Chinese methods, was essentially Japanese and naturalistic in
character, and was founded by Kasuga Motomitsu in the latter part of
the tenth century.
In the thirteenth century Tsunetaka, son of Kasuga Mitsunaga, assumed
the name of Tosa and gave to the Yamato school the name it has since
retained.
An important movement set in at the beginning of the fifteenth century,
no less than a Chinese renaissance. For centuries Chinese influence had
been waning, and the national style of Yamato and Tosa had held the
field.
[Illustration: Hotei and the Children. by Kanō Shō-Yei, 1591.
Japanese:
Mr Wilson Crewdson.]
Sesshiu, the remarkable painter who founded the school bearing his
name, was of the noble family of Ota, and was born in 1440. At the age
of twelve or thirteen he was intended for the Church and placed under
the instruction of the abbot of the temple of Hōfukuji. Sesshiu’s
sympathies, however, were all in the direction of the fine arts, he
neglected religious training, and a story is told of him—one of those
extraordinary legends familiar in Chinese and Japanese annals—that upon
one occasion, when bound to a pillar as punishment for some misconduct,
he beguiled the weary hours of waiting by drawing rats upon the floor,
using his toes for pencil and his tears for ink (!), the representation
being so life-like as to alarm his janitor. Some versions of the story
affirm that, upon the approach of the priest, the rats scampered away.
At the age of forty he visited China, the fountain-head, but was
surprised to find that he had more to teach than to learn.
The fan of Hotei and the children, probably by Kanō Shō-yei,
1591, may be accepted as one of the finest examples of a painted
fan of the Kanō school, the last of the three branches of the
fifteenth-century revival of Chinese teaching. The school was founded
by Masanobu, a painter of landscape, born _c._ 1423 and died 1520, its
actual head, however, being Motonobu, his son, born 1476.
Hotei (Master Linen-sack), the god of prosperity, was a Chinese priest
of the tenth century, famous for his fatness and his love of children.
He could sleep in the snow, never washed himself, and had the power of
infallibly predicting future events. The legends attached to his name
are very similar to those narrated of many Taoist Rishis, but his claim
to a position as Divinity appears to be due to the view enunciated in
the _Butsu-Zō dzu-i_ and other works, that he was an incarnation
of Miroku Bosatsu Mâitrêya, the Messiah of the Buddhists, in which
capacity his image has long been worshipped in Chinese temples. He
is usually represented with a fan of the pear-shaped gourd type, and
carries a cloth bag as a trap for little boys and girls, who are
enticed inside to see the wonderful things it is supposed to contain,
and then imprisoned until they can beg their way out. These ‘Precious
Things’ include the Lucky Rain Coat, the Sacred Key, the Inexhaustible
Purse, etc.[51]
Innumerable pictures of Hotei by Japanese artists are in existence,
some dating from the fifteenth century.
The charmingly poetic view of the Tamagawa River, with the tea-plant in
blossom, and flying cuckoo (Hoto-Togisu), is probably by Kanō San
Raku, 1633. Both these fans are accompanied by a Japanese certificate
of authenticity.
Autograph, motto, and inscription fans are referred to in another part
of this work.[52] The practice of inscribing sacred texts upon fans,
obtained during the latter part of the eleventh and beginning of the
twelfth century, the period ‘when the Buddhist religion was openly
professed by the wealthy and warmly supported by the luxurious.’
Fragments of Buddhist sûtras written on fans and fan leaves exist at
the temples at Yamato, Ôsaka, the Imperial Museum Tôkyô, and elsewhere.
These are copied from the ‘Lotus of the True Law,’ or other Mahâyâna
texts of a like nature. The fans, though differing somewhat in size,
are all alike in paper, pigments, and style of painting, and evidently
had a common origin; they are overlaid with gold-leaf and dusted
with fine sand; upon this a thin wash of red or black pigment is
applied. The sacred text is written in ink, over a painting, usually a
figure-subject and bearing no reference to the text; the faces sketched
in a curious convention known as Hikimé Kagihana (eye with a line, the
nose with a key), in which the eye is represented by a straight line
and the nose with a somewhat acute angle. This convention has been
traced to Kasuga Takayoshi (beginning of the twelfth century), who
painted a number of picture rolls illustrating the tales of the Genii.
[Illustration: The Tamagawa River. with tea-plant & flying cuckoo. by
Kanō San Raku, 1633.
Japanese:
Mr Wilson Crewdson.]
[Illustration: Japanese War Fans, Gumbai Uchiwa.
Mr L.C.R.Messel.
Mr. W Harding Smith.
Mr W.L.Behrens.]
A fan leaf owned by the Temple of Saikyôji, Sakamoto, Omi, is
illustrated in _Selected Relics of Japanese Art_, S. Tajima. A hi-ogi,
with figures and pine-tree, in the Shinto Temple, Itsukushima-Jinsha
Aki, is illustrated in the same work: this latter, doubtless, is a
production of the Taira era, possibly a dedication to the temple from a
scion of the Taira family, and painted by a daughter of Taira Kiyomori,
the premier, 1167-1180, the writer of the ‘Lotus of the True Law.’
A similar combination of painting and writing obtained later, and was
practised by Kôyetsu Hon-Ami, the predecessor of Kôrin Ogata, the
reputed founder of the Korin school. This artist was a skilful writer
of Chinese ideographs, in which art he was one of the ‘Three Pens’ of
his time, being the founder of the Kôyetsu school of caligraphy.[53]
A fine example of Kôyetsu in the possession of Baron Ryûichi Kuki is
reproduced in Mr. Tajima’s work. This is painted on a gold ground, and
represents a rabbit in a flowered field. The fan is divided in two
parts, the writing, which is by the artist, being on the gilt portion.
Kôyetsu died at Kyoto in 1637, aged eighty-two.
The Ukiyoyé school included most of the makers of colour prints; two of
the more famous of them, Masanobu Kiato, and Hokusai Katsushika, born
in the same year, 1760, also painted fans. The former opened a shop
at Ginza for the sale of smokers’ implements and medicine, and sold
besides folding-fans and long panels upon which poems were written;
both of these he ornamented with sketches; they became renowned far and
wide, and from their sale he derived large profit.
A fan leaf by Hokusai, a masterly sketch of the head and shoulders of a
‘Beauty,’ is illustrated in Tajima’s work, as also several fans painted
with courtesans, by an almost equally celebrated maker of colour
prints, Kunisada.
Battle- or war-fans are of two kinds—the flat, rigid screen (uchiwa)
which is the earliest, and the folding (ogi). In both, iron is the
material of which it is mainly composed. The first named is sometimes
formed completely of metal (iron and brass), is of considerable weight,
and is used by officers both for direction, offence and defence, _i.e._
as baton, weapon, and shield.
This sometimes assumes a circular form, and is occasionally inlaid with
the more precious metals; more often, however, it resembles the pear-
or gourd-shaped screen. In the centre example illustrated, belonging to
Mr. W. Harding Smith, the handle is of lacquered wood, the ornaments
at its extremities, together with the rim of the fan blade, of bronze
gilt; it bears an inscription on the obverse in Japanese, and on the
reverse in Chinese, as follows:—
Japanese script.
‘Kisei ai shozaru jun-kwan
no hashi naki-ga gotoshi.’
‘Wrong and right (or odd and even) happen for ever,
impartially, like the revolving ball.’
This may, possibly, be rendered by the following:—
‘Defeat and victory succeed each other
by a turn of Fortune’s wheel.’
Chinese script.
‘Sono toki-koto kazé no gotoku
Sono shizuka-nuru koto hayashi no gotoshi.’
‘Its sharpness is as the wind, its softness
as the grave.’
The fan in the possession of Mr. W. L. Behrens is ornamented with two
dragons in low relief, the motto ‘Tenka tai hei’ (international peace).
In the folding battle-fan, the stick is of wrought iron, the branches
varying from ten to fourteen in number; in many military fans,
the stick is of bamboo, painted black, the guards of iron, often
arrow-shaped, and richly inlaid with silver.[54]
The decoration of the mount, of thick paper, consists of the sun,
moon, or north star, usually in red, but also in gold, on a black or
coloured ground. An unusual example, illustrated, has a gold sun on the
one side, and a silver crescent moon and nine golden planets on the
reverse; the ground being light, the guards of yellow bronze, ‘seutoku.’
The fine fan in the possession of Mr. L. C. R. Messel has on the
obverse a golden sun with two flying birds, and on the reverse a silver
sun with similar birds.
The sun _motif_ is occasionally abandoned in favour of a
figure-subject. M. Ph. Burty exhibited at Liverpool in 1877 a fan that
belonged to a commander-in-chief; the leaf, of stout buff paper covered
with silk tissue, is painted in india ink with the Seven Sages in the
Forest of Bamboru. The brins are of plain whalebone, the panaches
of oxidised iron, elaborately inlaid with scroll-work and crests in
silver, the latter being of the powerful family of Nai-To. Another fan
from the same collection belonged also to an officer of high rank. The
brins are of bronze gilt, the panaches of polished iron, shaped like
slips of bamboo, and chased with lions and flowers. On the inside of
one panache is an inscription in inlaid gold, stating that the ironwork
was made by U. Da-Kane-Signe; the leaf of glistening paper.
The most characteristic war-fans are, however, those having the simple
red sun, with no superfluous decoration, the initial purpose of
these instruments being that of a signal. They constantly appear in
representations of battle-scenes, the general on his war-horse in the
heat of battle brandishing in his right hand the fan, the symbol of
his authority and command. In Hokusai’s painting of ‘Tamétomo and the
Demons’ (British Museum, No. 1747), the hero is grasping a huge bow in
his right hand, and waving the folding battle-fan in his left.
In a print by Kuniyoshi (_c._ 1820) of the battle of Kawanakajima
between Uyesugi Kenshin and Takeda Shingen (fifteenth century), a
sword-cut is parried by the war-fan.
In a representation of the same battle by Yoshitora, a dismounted
general is directing with a war-fan an attack by spearmen.
In the colour print by Hiroshige II. of Yoshitsune and Benkei, the
war-fan also appears.
In the print by Shunsui of Atsumori and Kumagai, the hero, mounted, is
plunging into the sea followed closely by his adversary Kumagai, also
mounted, brandishing the war-fan as a signal and challenge.[55] Two of
the many stories or legends relating to the war-fan may be given.—The
first refers to Nasu no Yoichi, an archer, whose clan took the fan
as their crest,[56] in allusion to his performance at the battle of
Yashima in 1185. ‘When the Taira were driven from Kyoto by the Minamoto
in 1182, the Empress Ni no Ama flew with the child-emperor Antoku, to
the shrine of Itsukumisha, where thirty pink fans, bearing the design
of the sun disc (Hi no Maru) were kept. The head-priest gave one to
Antoku, saying that it contained in the red disc the Kami of the dead
Emperor Takakura (1169-1180), and would cause arrows to recoil upon
the enemy. The fan was accordingly attached to a mast of the Taira
ship, on which a court lady is always depicted, and a challenge sent
to Minamoto no Yoshitsune, which was accepted by one of his archers,
Nasu no Yoichi, who on horseback rode in the waves, and with a
well-directed arrow broke the rivet which held the leaves together, and
thus shattered the fan.’
[Illustration: War Fans, Gun Sen.
Mr. W. Harding Smith.
Mr. L. C. R. Messel.]
The second tells of Araki, a Samurai whom Oda Nobunaga wished to kill,
summoning him to audience, placing himself in such a position that the
neck of the Samurai came in line with the sliding panels separating the
audience chamber from the daimio’s room, intending to have the _shoji_
slammed together as the man knelt, and thus decapitate him. Araki,
suspecting the trap, promptly laid his iron fan in the groove, jamming
the shutters, and thus saving himself.[57]
The Ha uchiwa (jin sen) is a camp-fan originally introduced from China
in the seventh century and made of the feathers of the eagle, pheasant,
or peacock, the handle usually lacquered red, black, or blue; the
interesting example illustrated is formed of eagles’ feathers fixed in
a horn handle.
Dancing-fans (Mai ogi) were introduced at the beginning of the
seventeenth century. The brins are ten in number, the mount of thick
paper, usually bearing a family crest. One of the earliest of these
fans is to be seen in the painting of a dancer by Matabei (born 1578),
in the Morrison collection (reproduced in _Painting in the Far East_,
Laurence Binyon), the decoration of the mount consisting of a few
scattered leaves.
The fan is the most usual accompaniment of the dance, and is generally
seen in the hands of the Kagura dancers or of the performers with the
Shishi mask. The fan dance, which is more nearly allied to jugglery
than to the dance, is said to commemorate the performance of Uzume
while alluring the Sun Goddess Amaterasu from the cavern, whither
she once retired, plunging the world into temporary darkness by her
absence. In this, the fan represents the leaves of the pine-tree, the
performer balancing a number on his forehead, nose, mouth, hands and
feet.
Tea-fans (Rikiu ogi) are for use at the tea ceremonies celebrated in
honour of tea in every province on the first day of the first month,
and commemorating the curing of the Emperor Murakami, 947-967 A.D.,
of a disease against which the physicians were powerless. The Emperor
recovered after drinking an offering of tea made to the Goddess
Kwanyin. The code, that formerly was of a gorgeous description, was
modified later by Sen-no Rikiu, from whom the fan set apart as cake
tray or saucer derives its name. The Rikiu fan is of the simplest
possible construction, having only three sticks, the decoration also
being of a simple character. It is used for handing round little cakes,
and for no other purpose, fanning being strictly tabooed during such a
dignified proceeding.[58]
The giant closing fans (Mita ogi) were used in the processions at
Ise in honour of the Sun Goddess, the traditional originator of the
Japanese dynasty. These were six or seven feet long, five men being
appointed to carry one of this huge magnitude.
Water-fans (Mizu uchiwa), for kitchen use, date from the eighteenth
century. These are of bamboo split into segments, covered with stout
paper, and varnished or lightly lacquered so as to allow of the fan
being dipped in water, thus securing extra coolness by evaporation.
They are often decorated with figures and other subjects, the varnish
subsequently applied being of a rich warm brown.
Roll-up fans (Maki uchiwa) are circular, the paper stiffened with thin
strips of bamboo; the handle is of bamboo cut through with a slit to
allow the circular fan, which is set on a pivot, to have free play.
When open, the strips of the bamboo foundation are horizontal, thus
securing rigidity; when not in use, the position of the strips may be
reversed, and the disc rolled round the stick and tied.
[Illustration: Modern Japanese Fan, Ivory with gilt Lacquer, and
Painted Fan signed Kunihisa.
Mr. W. Tomkinson.]
Of modern fans, those of ivory and tortoise-shell, carved or decorated
with lacquer and inlay, are, for the most part, made for exportation,
and are often of extreme beauty. The excellent example in the Victoria
and Albert Museum is decorated with circular medallions in gold lacquer
of various shades, portions being carved in relief. It is finely
inlaid in places with mother of pearl; signed by Taishin (a pupil of
Zesshin), and dated 1884. An example, equally fine, is given from the
collection of Mr. M. Tomkinson. This is decorated with a view of Fuji
san, or Fuji-no-yama (peerless mountain); those born within its watch
are considered most happy and fortunate beings.
‘Great Fujiyama, tow’ring to the sky!
A treasure art thou giv’n to mortal man,
A god-protector watching o’er Japan—
On thee for ever let me feast mine eye.’[59]
Of the cheaper hand-screens exported in large quantities to Europe, the
simplest form is that of a dried palm leaf cut to the required shape,
and bound round the edge, the stem forming the handle. The most common
variety is made by splitting bamboo into thin strips that are spread
out radially, fastened with thin cord, and covered with paper; these
are decorated with designs displaying high qualities of arrangement
and graphic skill, and are printed in that process of chromoxylography
which, if not actually invented by the Japanese, has been carried by
them to its highest point of excellence. A more elaborate hand-screen
is also exported, the covering of silk, painted.
It will be readily understood, that the fan, entering as it does so
closely into the daily life of the Japanese, should also form the
subject of many games. Two characteristic instances may be cited.
The ‘fan and cup’ game was particularly favoured by court nobles and
ladies. A company met by the river, each member launching on the water
a fan prepared with varnish or lacquer to ensure buoyancy and to
prevent absorption of moisture. The game consisted in the composition
of a verse or couplet of poetry during the time the fans were at the
mercy of wind and wave, and before they regained terra-firma. Tea-cups
were also used, this last being illustrated in a Chinese makimono by
Hwei-chi Ku-Yuen, British Museum, 276.
In the ogi otoshi or fan target game, a target called ‘cho,’ made
somewhat in the form of a butterfly, is placed on a low table or
pedestal on the floor. A fan is thrown from a given distance with a
sudden and peculiar turn of the wrist, causing it to reverse itself in
its passage through the air and strike the target with the rivet end.
This game is played by two people facing the target at opposite ends.
Bells are attached to the outer edge of the ‘cho,’ that sound when a
successful hit has been accomplished.[60]
No notice, however brief, of the fans of Japan would be complete
without some reference to the constant employment of the fan form as
a decorative _motif_ in Japanese design, one of the many evidences of
the important place the fan holds in the affections of the people.
Lacquered tea-trays assume the shape of the fan; inkstands take the
form of a closed fan, the ink-well at the rivet end, the body of
the fan forming a case for pens;[61] while in diapered patterns,
borders, and other decoration, both flat and in relief, the fan motif
is constantly made use of. The interesting series of fan-shaped
panels illustrative of Japanese history, by an unknown artist of the
Yamato Tosa school, seventeenth century, British Museum, 305-324, are
excellent instances of the use of the fan form in flat decoration,
these being probably removed from an old screen. Three kakémonos in
the collection of Mr. R. Phené Spiers are each finely painted with
four full-sized fans, decorated with various lilies, drawn with that
consummate skill and knowledge of plant form which would appear to be
the peculiar heritage of the sons of Dai Nippon.
[Illustration: Three Chūkei.
Mr L. C. R. Messel.]
[Illustration: Palm Leaf Fan, used by the Great Chiefs, Fiji.
Hide Fan, Nigeria.
British Museum.]
CHAPTER IV
FANS OF PRIMITIVE PEOPLES
[Illustration]
In any survey of the industrial arts of the more primitive nations or
peoples, three facts must be taken into consideration: 1st, climatic
conditions; 2nd, the natural products indigenous to the country,
and the outcome of its climatic conditions; 3rd, the degree of the
intellectual development of its inhabitants.
The study of any particular branch of art presupposes some acquaintance
with the history of the people among whom the art was practised. In
considering, however, the art of primitive peoples, this matter of
history and association plays but a minor part. Pictorial storiation
is practically non-existent, individualism is lost in the collective
racial influence. Moreover, the raw material of industry is precisely
the kind readiest to hand, and generally demanding the minimum of skill
in its working.
The fans of primitive or more or less uncivilised peoples may therefore
be divided into three or four distinct types: 1st, the natural
palm-leaf fans, common in most palm-producing countries; 2nd, the
plaited rush-, grass-, or cane-fans, these being generally of the
spatula, or half-halberd shape; 3rd, hide-fans, which usually take the
form of round or oval screens; 4th, feather-fans, the character being
necessarily determined by the kind of feathers employed.
It will readily be perceived that the earliest and simplest forms are
those supplied ready to hand by Nature herself, viz. palm-leaf fans.
These may be divided into two great classes. In the one, the leaf is
set symmetrically on the stem; in the other, it is fixed laterally;
in both instances the natural stem forms the handle. An excellent
example of the first named is the large fan made from the leaf of the
_Pritchardia pacifica_, used only by the great chiefs of the Fiji
Islands. In this the leaf is cut to the shape of a reversed heart,
bound round the border by a wisp, the ends of the fronds being arranged
in tufts at intervals round the edge of the fan, forming an agreeable
contrast to the simple radiating lines of the leaf.
In the second class of palm-fan, one side of the leaf is either cut
away or bent laterally, the large leaves of the Palmyra or Talipot
palms being used, cut short, the edges worked round with an applied
border of thin strips of the leaf. This form appears to be ubiquitous;
it is common, not only to primitive peoples, but also to the more
civilised countries of the East. In India it appears both in the form
of the smaller hand-fans and the larger pankhás, often richly decorated
in colour, with inserted plaques of mica, or other ornamental device.
The art of plaiting with rush, straw, grass, cane, roots, and other
flexible materials is one of the very earliest practised by man; we
find it in constant use amongst savage tribes, who employ the process
for mats, baskets, various coverings for the person, and other articles
of personal and domestic use; both the technical skill and the æsthetic
effect being often of a very high order. It will at once be perceived
that this process is especially suited to the fan, which demands, above
all things, lightness of construction; the plaited fan is therefore the
most usual form in that vast group of islands known as Polynesia, as
well as in most other countries situated within the equatorial belt.
The principle of plaiting is to commence from the stick or handle,
which generally extends two-thirds of the distance along the blade or
leaf of the fan. The stick is generally of wood, occasionally of ivory,
and in some instances both substances are employed, the handle often
elaborately carved.
The most usual shape is that of a spear cut crosswise and shortened:
the ordinary principle of form-development is followed, from extreme
attenuation lengthwise, to extreme width and shortness, the form of
the lower border varying from an acute angle to a semicircle, the top
varying from straight line to arched or curved.
[Illustration]
The plaiting is of varying degrees of fineness according to the
character of the leaf, straw, cane, or fibre employed. The patterning
also varies, occasionally straw of a different colour (black or brown)
being introduced.
This type of fan is found in the Marquesas Islands (South Pacific),
the Hervey (Cook) Islands, Solomon Islands, Samoa, and the Hawaiian
or Sandwich Islands. A large plaited broad rush-fan appears in the
Horniman Museum, made and presented by Queen Kapiolani of the Hawaiian
Islands (illustrated p. 272); a similarly formed fan appears in the
same collection from Tahiti.
In some examples from Samoa in the British Museum collection, the
shapes are slightly more varied, remarkably so in one instance in which
the top border assumes a pointed or zigzag pattern. The kite shape also
is found in various forms. (Page 81, Nos. 1, 2, 3.)
[Illustration: HAWAIIAN ISLANDS]
In the Hawaiian group a spatula shape appears, this also being
developed to its utmost limit of breadth or width, the handles of
plaited hair, in two colours, forming a pattern.
In British Guiana a curious fan (warri warri) is used, formed of strips
of the Ita palm, having no stem, but simply a rolled edge, either
single or double (crosswise), forming a finish to the leaf or blade,
and affording a grip for the hand. The size of these fans varies from
six to fifteen inches. A development of the above form is used as
bellows by the natives of Ecuador and Peru; the double handle slightly
longer, the forms varied to leaf and shield shape. In India, also, the
two-handled bellows-fan is used, made of strips of the leaf-stalk of
the Tucuma palm.
In the British Museum is a curious little fan having only a loop for
handle, formed of plaited reed (Iturite) of two colours, brown and
black. (Page 81, No. 8.)
In the hide-fans common on the western border of Africa, the form
approaches that of a circular screen, set on a wooden handle. In these
the ornamentation is either formed of the natural markings of the
hide, or an ‘appliqué’ of leather, painted white, and cut to various
perforated patterns, so as to show a bright vermilion feather stuff
in the perforations; the three colours, the brown or black of the
hide, the white leather, and the vermilion perforations forming a
very effective contrast. Examples from Nigeria appear in the British
Museum collection. A smaller fan of goatskin is in the Horniman Museum.
These hide-fans form part of the fantastic death-dance costumes of Old
Calabar.
[Illustration:
1, 2, 3, 11, 12. SAMOA.
4, 5. BRITISH GUIANA.
6, 7, 8. ECUADOR AND PERU.
9, 10. SOUTH-EASTERN PACIFIC.]
Feathers, although constantly employed as ornaments to the person,
are less commonly used for fans than might generally be supposed,
especially in countries where bird life is abundant.
Amongst the Blackfoot nation of North American Indians, eagles’
feathers were used as a standard of valour at the advent of the white
man, and the capture of eagles was regarded as a sacred ceremony. In
the British Museum is a fan of these eagles’ feathers, with a handle
covered with coarse linen of a printed pattern; to the tip of each
feather is affixed a small pink fluffy feather, thus forming a pink
border to the top of the fan, the border being repeated at the top of
the handle. This was procured from ‘Little Ears,’ a Blood Indian. A
similar fan, minus the handle, appears in the same collection; in this
instance the tips of the feathers are ornamented with little tails made
of hair, varied at the lower ends by white fur. In consequence of a
dream that appeared to a Blood chief named Bears’ Lodge, a dance was
instituted in which these fans were waved, and whistles made of eagles’
bones were carried and used. (Illustrated opposite.)
Ceremonial fans were employed by the Indians of the Great West; we have
an account of the visit of a Taensas chief on the banks of the Lower
Mississippi to Le Sieur de La Salle in 1682: ‘The Chief condescended to
visit La Salle at his camp; a favour which he would by no means have
granted, had the visitors been Indians. A master of ceremonies and six
attendants preceded him, to clear the path and prepare the place of
meeting. When all was ready, he was seen advancing clothed in a white
robe, and preceded by two men bearing _white fans_, while a third
displayed a disc of burnished copper, doubtless to represent the
Sun, his ancestor, or, as others will have it, his elder brother.’[62]
It is safe to assume that these fans were of feathers, and the
incident is an evidence that the use of the fan in high ceremonial was
universal, and common to both East and West.
[Illustration:
Two small Palm Fans. West Africa.
Fly Whisks, Tahiti.
Cockade Fan, with inscription.
Fan of Eagles Feathers, North American Indian.]
There still remains the cockade form of fan, found amongst the West
African tribes; an example appearing in the British Museum collection,
of paper, with primitive painted ornaments in black, red, and yellow,
alternated with inscription; the fan measuring some twenty inches in
diameter.
A most interesting example of hide appears in the Horniman Museum,
taken from the king’s palace at Benin in 1897. This, doubtless, from
its size and the cumbrous nature of its material, as well as the
foregoing example, was waved by the attendants of some highly placed
personage, probably the king.
[Illustration]
The square or oblong flag-fan is made by the natives of the Niger
settlements of West Africa. An example in the Victoria and Albert
Museum is of plaited grass with strips of the natural shades of brown
and yellow, and others stained red and black; the handle is covered
with reddish-brown leather, fringed along the side of the leaf, the fan
edged with the same material.
The appearance of similar decorative _motifs_ in countries widely
separate opens up an interesting field of speculation. Some
explanation, however, of the fact of the cockade (though in itself,
together with the flag form, a simple device) appearing among the
West African tribes, may be found in the fact that the natives of the
interior of West Africa were long exposed to the influence of the
Mohammedan culture of the Western Sudan; the races were to some extent
intermingled, and a close commercial relationship has been maintained
during a long period.
Fly-whisks are obviously articles of necessity throughout the countries
of the Torrid Zone.[63] These are formed either of feathers, of
vegetable fibre, of the hair of the larger animals, of hempen string,
or other materials.
These instruments occasionally acquire a sacred significance; Blondel
affirms that they were common in Peru and Mexico before the Spanish
conquest, and, together with the fan, were used also as a symbol
of authority, the handles being adorned with the precious stone
‘theoatz-ehuaquetzalli.’
A species of fly-whisk, formed of dried grass, is used as a war
fetish by the natives of the Gold Coast; in some instances an iron
bell is attached, carried and rung by the magician in front of the
warriors. Sticks and also fan handles bound with feathers are used as
propitiatory offerings to the gods by the natives of the South-Eastern
Pacific. (Page 81, Nos. 9, 10.)
In the Hawaiian Islands feather wands (Kahili) are carried as a
symbol of rank; these appear to have been originally fly-whisks, and
are formed of the tail feathers of various birds. Six examples are
included in the British Museum collection, the handles formed of ivory
alternated with horn, the extremity of the handle being formed of the
bone of an enemy.
A long fly-whisk from Hawaii appears in the same collection, formed of
the neck feathers of the cock, of varying colours, white, orange, and
brown, with black tip; the handle of wood, bound round with black and
buff cane.
The most primitive form of fly-whisk is that from the Andaman Islands
in the Bay of Bengal, made of grass fibre, bound to a stick, and
resembling a rough besom.
[Illustration]
Vegetable fibre of various kinds would appear, indeed, to be the
material most commonly employed for these articles, being, doubtless,
the readiest substance to hand. A remarkable series of fly-whisks from
Tahiti, formed of fibre, were presented to the British Museum by Sir W.
C. Trevelyan, Bart.; in these, the handles (of wood) are finely plaited
half-way with fibre of two colours, the rest of the handle of a spiral
form, the head carved to a fantastic shape.
[Illustration]
An interesting fly-whisk from the Tonga Islands is formed of cocoa-nut
fibre, finely plaited at its junction with the wooden handle; small
turquoise, black, and white beads, are affixed to the plaited portion,
these forming an extremely effective contrast to the rich red brown of
the fibre. In Samoa, enormous fly-whisks are formed of this material,
sometimes affixed to a handle of wood, and occasionally bound round
with the same material to form the handle. (Page 81, Nos. 11, 12.)
A curious fly-whisk from Tahiti is of twisted fibre, the handle being
formed of two birds’ wing-bones bound together, with a portion of
plaited fibre in two colours forming the extremity of the stem at its
junction with the whisk.
The Matabeles employ fly-whisks of horse-hair, both white and black.
An example of white horse-hair bound with brass, fixed in a handle of
cane, and also one of black hair, with the handle formed of plaited
brass wire, are to be seen in the British Museum.
A similar fly-whisk of black horse-hair is in the same collection; the
handle of steel wire, bound round a double leather thong, the extremity
forming a loop ornamented by blue glass beads. These are used by the
elders (Elmoru) of the East African Protectorate.
[Illustration]
Black horse-hair forms the material of fly-whisks used by the natives
of the Upper Nile. In the example illustrated the hair is set in an
open-shaped piece of leather, with a long bone handle.
[Illustration]
In Abyssinia, also, fly-whisks formed of the tails of the smaller
animals are employed. An example occurs in the India Museum, the hair
dyed red and yellow, the handle of silver parcel-gilt.
Probably the most curious of all fans and fan-like objects in use
among primitive peoples is the so-called Ghost Fan of South Celebes
(Malay Archipelago). This mysterious object consists of a triangular
arrangement at the end of a stick, of fine spun red stuff embellished
with a bordering of gold tinsel, together with spangles or hanging
ornaments along its lower edge. Around the stick is tightly twisted a
piece of paper, probably containing an incantation. An example occurs
in the Ethnological Museum, Berlin, referred to and illustrated in _Der
Fächer_, Georg Buss. (See p. 106.)
[Illustration: The Tournament, by E. Moreau. Ivory brisé, painted &
gilt.
Victoria & Albert Museum.]
CHAPTER V
THE FLABELLUM AND EARLY FEATHER-FAN
[Illustration: ANGEL WAVING A FLABELLUM (From the Book of Kells.)]
The Christian Church was quick to perceive the utility of the fan
as an instrument of religious ceremonial, imparting to this object
a mysterious importance, a sacerdotal distinction, preserving and
shielding it from common use; it has even been claimed that this
appropriation was instituted by the Apostles themselves, Bishop Suarez
attempting to substantiate this by an appeal to an apocryphal liturgy
attributed to St. James.
The earliest recognised notice, however, of the flabellum as a
liturgical ornament is in the Apostolical Constitutions, which direct
that after the oblation, before and during the prayer of consecration,
two deacons are to stand, one on either side of the altar, holding a
fan made of thin membrane (parchment), or of peacocks’ feathers, or of
fine linen, and quietly drive away the flies and other small insects,
that they may not stick against the vessels; this use of the flabellum
being derived, not from the ritual of the synagogue of the Jews, but
from that of the Pagan temples. Butler (_Ancient Coptic Churches of
Egypt_) quotes a similar rubric from the liturgy of St. Clement. The
same author refers also to flabella waved by the deacons in the Syrian
Jacobite, and probably also in the Coptic, rite for the ordination of a
priest at laying on of hands—they appeared at solemn festivals and at
regular celebrations of mass.[64] On Good Friday, also, they were used
at the consecrations of Chrism—seven deacons holding flabella, walking
on either side of the holy oil when carried in procession.
[Illustration: SILVER PROCESSIONAL FLABELLUM (From Butler.)]
Many evidences of its early adoption by the Latin Church are extant.
Moschus (_Prat. Spirituale_, § 150) cites an occurrence showing its
employment in the time of Pope Agapetus, A.D. 535, in which a deacon,
who had falsely accused his bishop, was removed from the altar when he
was _holding the fan_ in the presence of the Pope, because he hindered
the descent of the Holy Spirit on the gifts. This same author (_Prat.
Spirituale_, § 196), in narrating how some shepherd boys near Apamea
were imitating the celebration of the Eucharist in childish sport, is
careful to mention that two of the children stood on either side of the
celebrant, vibrating their handkerchiefs like fans,[65] thus showing
that the use of the flabellum was general even at this early period. In
a letter of St. Hildebert, Archbishop of Tours, _c._ 1098, accompanying
the present of a flabellum made to a friend, its use and mystic import
are explained—the flies, representing the temptations of the devil, are
to be driven away by the Catholic faith.
Gradually the waving of the flabellum acquired a deeper symbolic
meaning—it was held to signify the wafting of divine influence upon the
ceremony, the movements to and fro symbolising the quivering of the
wings of the Seraphim; hence we find representatives of the Seraphim
playing an important part in its ornamentation. In the Book of Kells
we have a representation of the four evangelists in which the Seraphic
symbol of St. Matthew is figured by the crossed flabella, each having
a pair of bells with triple hammers; the remaining three evangelists
being represented by the usual symbols of the Lion in the centre, and
the Bull and Eagle at the lower corners.
Germanus (Neale, _Eastern Church_, p. 396) goes even further, and
holds that the vibration of the flabellum typifies the tremor and
astonishment of the angels at our Lord’s Passion.
In a Byzantine fresco at Nekrési (Caucasus), of a date uncertain but
somewhat late, an open sanctuary is represented with two angelic winged
deacons waving seraphic flabella around the head of the second person
of the Trinity.
[Illustration: COPTIC FLABELLUM. (From Butler.)]
We have, then, in these flabella, two distinct types—the one composed
of some yielding material such as vellum or peacocks’ feathers, the
handles usually of ivory; the other rigid, and formed of metal, either
silver or silver gilt, this latter being essentially a processional
fan; both being used in ceremonial processions and celebrations of the
mass.
Metal flabella also divide themselves into two classes—the
large-handled processional fan, and the short hand-fan; an example of
the latter is given from Butler, and consists of a circular disc of
metal decorated with two rude figures of the Seraphim interspersed with
Romanesque ornament.
Actual specimens of ancient flabella are almost non-existent,
although a few have been preserved on the Continent; one of the
most famous being that of the abbey church of Tournus, on the
Saône, south of Chalon, at present in the Carrand collection, Museo
Nazionale, Florence. This remarkable example, which may be taken as
a characteristic type, is formed of a strip of vellum folded _à la
cocarde_, painted on both sides with figures of St. Philibert and other
saints divided by conventional trees. The outer borders consist of a
continuous scroll of Romanesque ornament interspersed with figures of
animals. Latin hexameters and pentameters are inscribed on the three
concentric borders of the fan, as follows:—
[+] FLAMINIS HOC DONUM, REGNATOR SUMME POLORUM,
OBLATUM PURO PECTORE SUME LIBENS.
VIRGO PARENS XPI VOTO CELEBRARIS EODEM,
HIC COLERIS PARITER, TU FILIBERTE SACER.
[+] SUNT DUO QUAE MODICUM CONFERT ESTATE FLABELLUM;
INFESTAS ABIGIT MUSCAS ET MITIGAT AESTUS,
ET SINE DAT TEDIO GUSTARE MUNUS CIBORUM.
PROPTEREA CALIDUM QUI VULT TRANSIRE PER ANNUM,
ET TUTUS CUPIT AB ATRIS EXISTERE MUSCIS,
OMNI SE STUDEAT AESTATE MUNIRE FLABELLO.
[+] HOC DECUS EXIMIUM PULCHRO MODERAMINE GESTUM,
CONDECET IN SACRO SEMPER ADESSE LOCO;
NAMQUE SUO VOLUCRES INFESTAS FLAMINE PELLIT,
ET STRICTIM MOTUS LONGIUS IRE FACIT.
HOC QUOQUE FLABELLUM TRANQUILLAS EXCITAT AURAS,
ÆSTUS DUM SEVIT VENTUM FACIT ATQUE SERENUM,
FUGAT ET OBSCENAS IMPORTUNASQUE VOLUCRES.
The handle is formed of four cylinders of white bone, two being
ornamented with semi-naturalistic vine foliage running spirally round
the stem, the two lower fluted. These cylinders are united by nodes or
pommels, tinted green; on the middle node the inscription MICHEL · M
·, on the upper [+] IOHEL ME SCAE FECIT IN HONORE MARIAE. The stem is
surmounted by a capital with four figures of saints, whose names appear
on the node immediately beneath: S · MARIA · S · AGN · S · FILIB · S ·
PET. On the capital rests the guard or box which receives the flabellum
when closed; the four sides are of elaborately carved white bone with
green-tinted borders; the front and back panels, betraying evidence
of a different hand, are now in the Musée de Cluny, Paris, and
consist of arabesques of foliage with figures, birds, animals, etc.,
modelled with great spirit. The two lateral panels or faces form the
richest portion of the fan, and are carved with six subjects from the
_Eclogues_ of Virgil. Three seated senators with other figures, two
shepherds with oxen; three shepherds, two of whom are playing pipes,
some sheep in the foreground; a seated shepherd blowing a horn; another
shepherd with oxen and goats; a shepherd and satyr with dog and goats;
and a seated shepherd with two oxen.
[Illustration:
Photo by Alinari.
The Flabellum of Tournus. IX. cent.
Museo Nazionale, Florence.]
[Illustration: Photo by Alinari.
The Flabellum of Tournus, details.
Museo Nazionale, Florence.]
The modelling is somewhat rude and archaic, but extremely rich in
decorative effect. One edge of the fan is fixed in the box, the other
is attached to one of the lateral panels, which, in order to open the
fan, is drawn over and attached to the reversed side by means of a cord.
Both sides are figured in colours in Du Sommerard’s work _Les Arts du
Moyen Age_.
Of other flabella which exist, one is preserved in the Dominican
Monastery of Prouille, in the diocese of Toulouse; another, with a
handle of silver, was formerly at St. Victor, near Marseilles.
In the British Museum is a portion of an ivory handle of a flabellum,
French, of the twelfth century, about twelve inches in length,
finely carved with figures of the twelve Apostles and emblems of the
Evangelists. In the Victoria and Albert Museum is a similar fragment,
but smaller, carved with compartments of animals, mythical beasts,
monsters, etc.; these probably formed the two divisions of one single
flabellum. These handles were sometimes square-shaped, as in the
instance of the fragment in the Salting collection at present in the
Victoria and Albert Museum. This is also French, of the fourteenth
century, and is carved on each of its sides with figures of saints in
niches, with crocketed arches.
A portion of the cylindrical stem of a flabellum or aspergillum,
probably French of the twelfth century, is in the British Museum. This
represents the occupations of the twelve months of the year in three
bands, as follows: January, a two-headed Janus looking in opposite
directions; February, a figure seated before a fire; March, cutting
trees with a hatchet; April, gathering blossoms; May, an equestrian
figure with hawk; June, a mower with sickle and hooked stick; July, a
mower with scythe; August, a reaper with sickle; September, thrashing
wheat; October, sowing corn; November, killing a pig; December, pouring
wine into a cask.
The figures are separated from each other by trees, and the three
bands by rings ornamented with foliage and zigzag patterns with
semi-rosettes, and at top and bottom are rings with half-defaced
inscriptions.
There is also in the same collection a capital of morse ivory for the
handle of a flabellum, North German, twelfth century.
These instruments figure repeatedly in inventories of church and abbey
property. Butler quotes from one at St. Riquier, near Abbeville, in
831, ‘a silver fan for chasing flies from the sacrifice.’ At Amiens,
in 1250, there existed a fan for a similar purpose, ‘flabellum factum
de serico et auro ad repellendas muscas et immunda.’ In 1363 La Sainte
Chapelle possessed ‘duo flabella vulgariter nuncupata muscalia, ornata
perlis’; in 1376, ‘ij flabella, Gallice esmouchoirs, ornata de perlis.’
In the sacrist rolls of Ely, ‘Item, j flabello empt. ad Aurifabrum, 7d.
Item, in pari flabellorum pro le Colpeyt empt. 6d.’
A Salisbury inventory mentions two fans of vellum or other
material.[66] The Chapel of St. Faith in the crypt of old St.
Paul’s possessed, in 1298, a _muscatorium_ or fly-whip of peacocks’
feathers.[67] There is record of a gift to York Minster, between the
years 1393 and 1413, of a silver-gilt handle for a flabellum.[68] In
1346, Hamo, Bishop of Rochester, presented to the cathedral ‘unum
flabellum de serico cum virga eburnea.’[69] In the inventory of the
Chapel of West Exeter, Abbey of Bury St. Edmunds, ‘i. muscifugium de
pecock.’[70] In the enumeration of the valuable effects of the deceased
Queen Isabella, daughter of Philippe le Bel, and consort of Edward
II., the following entry appears: ‘De Capella, Duo flagella pro muscis
fugandis.’[71]
[Illustration:
Portion of Ivory Handle of a Flabellum, French, 12th Cent.
Victoria & Albert Museum.
Lower portion of the same handle.
British Museum.
Ivory Fan Handle, Italian, 16th Cent.
Salting Coll^n.
Portion of an Ivory Fan Handle, Italian, XIV.th Cent.
Victoria & Albert Museum.
Capital or node of a Flabellum.
British Museum.
Portion of handle of a Flabellum, 14th Cent.
Salting Coll^n.]
In England the flabellum was in use even in remote parishes. In the
churchwarden’s accounts at Walderswick, Suffolk, in 1493, is an entry
of IVd. for ‘a bessume of pekoks fethers.’
Although the flabellum is very rarely represented in illuminated
MSS., in the Book of Kells we find miniatures of angels waving these
instruments; in the Gospel of Trèves (eighth century) is a conjoined
evangelistic, symbolic figure holding a small flabellum in one hand
and a eucharistic lance in the other. In a Hiberno-Saxon MS. of the
eighth century a figure of St. Matthew is seen holding in his hand a
flabellum. In the public library at Rouen are two representations of
the use of this instrument; in the one, a thirteenth-century missal,
formerly belonging to the abbey of Jumièges, the fan is held by the
deacon in front of the altar at which the priest officiates; in the
other, it is waved over the head of the priest as he elevates the
wafer: this in a pontifical of the church of Rheims, thirteenth century.
[Illustration: FROM A GREEK PSALTER. (British Museum.)]
A psalter in Greek, British Museum, additional MSS. 19,352, gives
a miniature of an angel waving a large flabellum over the head of
David who is asleep; another instance occurs in a thirteenth-century
Service-Book in the Barberini Library, given by Paciandi.[72]
Representations in printed books are still more rare. In Barclay’s
_Ship of Fools of the World_, 1509, we find, however, a woodcut
illustration of a spectacled bibliophile wearing cap and bells, seated
among his books, holding in his hand a flabellum of feathers, saying:
‘Attamen in magno per me servantur honore:
Pulueris et cariem, plumatis tergo flabellis.’[73]
the word _flabellis_ being here applied to the ordinary hand-brush or
duster.
By the end of the sixteenth century the flabellum had fallen into
complete disuse, its original purpose having been long abandoned or
forgotten, although as late as 1688 Randle Holmes, _Academy of Armory_,
refers to ‘the flap or fann to drive away flies from the chalice.’ Its
sole reminiscence in the west is in the large flabella of peacocks’
feathers carried at solemn festivals in procession before the Pope.
In the Greek Church, the fan is still delivered to the deacon at
ordination as the symbol of his sacred office.
[Illustration: ΡΙΠΙΔΙΟΝ
FROM GOAR.]
From the period of the final break up of the Roman Empire to that of
the Crusades the general use of the fan was discontinued in Europe,
and was probably only adopted by highly placed personages; during
these early periods, however, it was still the religious fly-flap or
flabellum, _d’émouchoir_, and Blondel infers from the circumstance, of
Étienne Boileau not referring to it in his _Livre des Mestiers_ (1200),
that even at this time it no longer served any domestic purpose except
in very rare instances.
The earliest English reference to the fan appears to be the following:—
‘In the thirtieth year of King Edward I., precept was given to Nicholas
Pycot, Chamberlain, of the Guildhall of London that he should cause to
be sold all pledges for any debt whatsoever then in his custody.
‘In an inventory of pledges sold for arrears on the King’s Tallage, 31
Edward I., 1303. One fan (value not stated) taken from Henry Gyleberd
of the ward of Basseshawe for 2s. 8d., which he owes of arrears of the
fifteenth.’[74]
The oldest existing Christian fan, and the most famous of the few fans
of which we have any record during the Middle Ages, is that which has
become identified with Theodolinda, Queen of the Lombards, the saintly
princess, who possessed a nail of the holy cross which was ultimately
used as a setting to the Iron Crown of the kings of Lombardy. This fan
is preserved as a sacred relic in the Cathedral of Monza near Milan.
Superstition has invested it with magical powers. Pilgrimages are made
to Monza by village maidens, often from a long distance, on a certain
day of the year, as the act of touching it is believed to facilitate
and promote their marriage projects. It is of the cockade shape,
formed of vellum, of the beautiful purple hue we find in contemporary
manuscripts; it is decorated with an alternating diaper of Romanesque
ornament in gold and silver, and round its outer border on either side
is the following inscription in Latin hexameters, which is given by Mr.
W. Burges, _Archæological Journal_, vol. xiv., on the one side:
[+] ‘Ut sis conspectu praeclara et cara venusta,
Hac rogo defendens solem requiesce sub umbra,
Has soror obtutu depictas arte figuras
Praelegeris flavido ut decoreris casta colore.’
and on the reverse, now much obliterated:
‘Pulchrior ut facie dulcis videaris amica
... fervores solis ...
Me retinere manu Ulfeda (?) poscente memento
... splendoris ...’
Mr. Burges has pointed out that the form of the letters of the
inscription, which are Roman with slight Rustic variations, as also the
purple dye, are sufficiently similar to contemporary manuscripts of St.
Augustine of the end of the sixth century.
[Illustration: THE MONZA FLABELLUM. Details.]
The case which accompanies the fan is constructed on the same principle
as the handle of the Tournus flabellum, although less elongated. It is
of wood, covered with silver, the wooden part probably modern, made to
the original shape, with the old silver used again. The length of the
case with handle is 15-1/2 inches, the diameter of the leaf 10 inches.
[Illustration: Fan of Queen Theodolinda, VI. cent.
Cathedral of Monza.]
The side flap was originally fastened to the fan, and drawn round
until it formed a complete circle, as in the instance of the Tournus
flabellum.
With respect to the identity of the original owner of this fan,
although the claim which has been made for its association with Queen
Theodolinda cannot be substantiated, its identification with any
well-defined personage is equally difficult. Who was Ulfeda? Mr. Burges
states with reference to this name that it is by no means the most
legible part of the inscription—that he has been able to discover no
one so named who lived during this period.
M. de Linas points out that the name Ulféda is a variant of the Saxon
Elpheid, which the marvellous cloisonné fibula, exhumed, as is said,
from a Carlovingian sepulchre at Wittislingen (Bavaria), gives under
the softened form of Ufeila.
This Monza fan is not mentioned in an inventory of the treasury in
1275; in that of 1353 the following, however, occurs:
‘Item, fabella, seu orata una argenti facta ad modum unius maze cum
manica ligni ligata in argento.’
M. de Linas infers from the fact of the extremity of the handles being
provided with a ring, that it was _not_ a liturgic fan, and certainly
this circumstance, together with the smallness of its size, would
appear to be a sufficient evidence of its secular use; in any event,
and whatever its original use, this fan, together with that of Tournus,
must be accounted among the most precious relics preserved to us from
that dim and dark, but extremely fascinating period.
The rigid flag-fan, which appears to have been in intermittent use
in Europe from the early centuries of our era, consists of an oblong
parallelogram with a handle fitted to one of its longer sides. These
were made either of plaited straw of various colours, of linen painted
and embroidered, of parchment or vellum, or of silk, woven or
embroidered, often with lozenge-shaped diapering.
The earliest examples remaining to us are Coptic or Saracenic. M.
Robert Forrer in his _Reallexikon_ figures two which were obtained from
the cemetery of Akhmîn, the Greek Panopolis, presumably belonging to
the fourth-sixth century. Of these, one is finely plaited of brown,
red, and black straw, with a representation of four hearts encircling
a cross, the other of a reticulated diapered pattern with a border
of linen. A similar flag-fan of plaited straw appears in the Berlin
Museum: this example, also, is probably Coptic.
M. Charles de Linas, quoting from the life of St. Fulgentius, sixth
century, affirms that the Bishop of Ruspa, whilst he was a monk and
even an abbot, occupied his leisure hours in copying Holy Writ or in
plaiting ‘fly-flaps’ of palm leaves. This same author[75] figures a
flag-fan from an engraved glass vase, exhumed from the catacombs, and
now preserved in the library of the Vatican, representing the Virgin
Mother seated with the infant Saviour on her lap, a deacon behind
agitating a rectangular flabellum fixed in a lateral handle. The zigzag
ornamentation indicates that this, also, was formed of plaited straw.
[Illustration]
In the Observances of the Augustinian Priory at Barnwell, Cambridge,
‘The Fraterer ought to provide mats and rushes to strew the Frater
and the alleys of the Cloister at the Frater door, and frequently to
renew them; in summer to throw flowers, mint, and fennel into the air
to make a sweet odour, and to provide fans.’ ‘Muscatoria in estate
providere.’[76]
[Illustration: Coptic Fans, Akhmîn.
Ethnological Museum. Berlin.]
The most remarkable example, however, of this banner form is on
a diptich of ivory offered by Charles the Bald to the abbey of
Saint-Corneille de Compiègne, and at present in the Cabinet de
Médailles at Paris. On the inferior compartment of the diptich is a
eunuch (?) holding with both hands a flabellum apparently of metal, the
handle long, thick at the end, and engraved with lines representing
masonry; the top in the form of a turret, from which hangs a cord.
The leaf, in all probability embroidered, has a plain broad border
enclosing a laurel wreath.
The banner form of fan became fashionable with the Venetian women
of the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries. These were of two kinds:
the one, of a more ornate character, was used by matrons; the other,
_abanico di novia_, of a delicate whiteness, used only by engaged
maidens or the newly married. An example of the latter occurs in the
portrait of the painter’s daughter Lavinia, by Titian, in the Dresden
Gallery, probably painted in 1555. Titian painted this favourite
daughter some eighteen years later; in this portrait she carries a
feather-fan, the sign of Venetian nobility, Titian having been, in the
interval, created a Count Palatine by the Emperor Charles V.
[Illustration: FROM AN IVORY DIPTICH.
(Cabinet de Médailles, Paris.)]
Authentic examples of these flag-fans are exceedingly rare. A richly
embroidered Venetian fan of the sixteenth century is in the collection
of the Grand Duke Frederick of Baden; another, also Italian, has a
large oval medallion with ornaments of silver and brown, and is in the
collection of Mr. G. J. Rosenberg of Karlsruhe; a third, _abanico di
novia_, of white vellum enriched with Venetian lace of the sixteenth
century, is referred to by Blondel as being in the possession of Madame
Achille Jubinal of Paris.
These fans were probably introduced into the western countries of
Europe by the returning Crusaders. They never, apparently, obtained any
great vogue except in Italy; they continued, however, in intermittent
use until the close of the sixteenth century, when, together with
feather, tuft, and cockade fans, they gradually gave place to the
modern folding-fan which had by this time made its appearance in
Portugal from the Far East.
From the fourteenth century onwards, the history of the fan becomes
more clear, and Blondel quotes a number of French inventories in which
the fan figures—that of the Comptesse Mahaut d’Artois (1316), an
émouchoir with silver handle; of Queen Clémence (1328), an émouchoir
of silk brocade; and also in the will or testament of Queen Johanne of
Évreux (1372), a jewelled émouchoir costing five golden francs.[77]
The cockade form, _à la cocarde_, has been in use during all periods
subsequent to its first introduction from the East in the early
centuries of our era. We have already referred at some length to the
cockade flabella at Tournus and Monza. In an inventory of Charles V. of
France, 1380, we read of ‘un esmouchouer rond, qui se ploye, en yvoire,
aux armes de France et de Navarre, à un manche d’ybenus.’[78]
During the fourteenth century, the long-handled flabellum was also in
use, waved by attendants as at Thebes and Rome. In the inventory above
quoted (Charles V.) occurs—‘Trois bannières, ou esmouchoers, de cuir
ouvré, dont les deux ont les manches d’argent dorez.’ ‘Deux bannières
de France, pour esmoucher le Roy quand il est à Table, semées de fleurs
de lys brodées de perles.’[79]
The feather-fan, also, was in use during this reign, as we learn
from a curious entry in a letter of the Queen—alluding to a criminal
prosecution against some manufacturer of spurious coin—‘Le suppliant
trouva d’aventure un esventour de plumes, duquel il esceuta le feu—où
l’on faisoit la ditte fausse monnoye.’[80]
The feather and tuft fans in use from the twelfth to the sixteenth
centuries and later were formed of the plumes of the peacock, the
ostrich, and the paroquet, dyed various colours: the number of the
feathers varied from three to twenty or more, and were arranged so
as to imbricate the plumes in the gradation of their natural growth.
These were set in handles of carved ivory and the more precious metals,
generally silver, and were often richly jewelled, and suspended
from the girdle by a slender chain. Of their cost we have a hint in
Marston’s satires:
‘How can she keepe a lazie serving-man
And buy a hoode and silver-handled fan
With fortie pound?’
Silver was probably the material of the handle of Mistress Bridget’s
fan in the theft of which Falstaff and his Ancient were implicated.
FALSTAFF. And when Mistress Bridget
Lost the handle of her fan, I took’t upon
Mine honour thou hadst it not.
PISTOL. Didst thou not share? hadst thou not fifteen pence?
References to the silver-handled fan occur commonly in old plays:
‘She hath a fan with a short silver handle,
About the length of a barber’s syringe.’
_The Floire_, 1610.
‘All your plate, Vasco, is the silver handle of
Your old prisoner’s fan.’
_Love and Honour_, Sir W. Davenant, 1649.
‘Another he
Her silver handled fan would gladly be.’
In Marston, _Scourge of Villainie_, lib. III. sat. 8.
The above references are to fans of the ordinary sort; the cost of the
more precious fans of history was considerable. Brantôme (_c._ 1590)
refers to the fan of Queen Eleanor with its mirror all ornamented
with precious stones of great value, and also to the new-year’s gift
of Queen Margaret to Queen Louise of Lorraine—a jewelled fan of mother
of pearl of such beauty and richness that it was valued at more than
fifteen hundred crowns,[81] a sum equal to a thousand pounds of our
present money.
The employment of the fan as fire-screen is indicated by the new-year’s
gift to Queen Mary of England in 1556, when she received ‘seven fannes
to kepe the heate of the fyer, of strawe, the one of white silke.’
Queen Elizabeth’s partiality for fans is historic, and it is upon
record that she regarded a fan as a suitable gift for a queen.
Leicester’s new-year’s gift in 1574 is recorded: ‘A fan of white
feathers set in a handle of gold, garnished on one side with two very
fair emeralds, and fully garnished with diamonds and rubies; the other
side garnished with rubies and diamonds, and on each side a white bear
[his cognisance] and two pearls hanging, a lion ramping with a white
muzzled bear at his foot.’
Among the new-year’s gifts, 1588-9:—
‘By the Countess of Bath, a fanne of Swanne downe, with a maze of
gilene Velvet, ymbrodered with seed pearles and a very small chayne
of silver gilte, and in the middest a border on both sides of seed
pearles, sparks of rubyes and emerods, and thereon a monster of gold,
the head and breast mother of pearles.
‘By a Gentleman unknown, a fanne of sundry collored fethers, with a
handle of aggets garnished with silver gilte.’
[Illustration: Feather Hand-Screen, Queen Anne.
Mr L. C. R. Messel.]
In 1589, ‘a fanne of ffethers, white and redd, the handle of golde,
inameled with a halfe moone of mother of perles, within that a halfe
moon garnished with sparks of dyamonds, and a fewe seede perles on
th’ one side, having her majestie’s picture within it: and on the
back-side a device with a crowe over it.’
‘Geven by Sir Frauncis Drake.’
In 1599:—
‘By Mrs. Wingfeilde, mother of the maydes, four ruffes of lawne and a
fanne.’
From a letter of Rowland Whyte to Sir Robert Sydney, December 13, 1595,
we learn that ‘upon Thursday she dined at Kew, my lord keeper’s (Sir
John Packering) house (who lately obtained of her majestie his sute
for £100 a yeare land in fee farm). His intertainment for that meale
was great and exceeding costly. At her first lighting, she had a fine
fanne, with a handle garnished with diamonds.’
It is also recorded that upon her visit to Hawsted Hall, the seat of
Sir Thomas Cullum, she dropped a silver-handled fan into the moat.[82]
In the year 1600, a commission was issued to the Lord High Treasurer,
the Lord Chamberlain, the Chancellor of the Exchequer, and the
Treasurer of Her Highness’s Chamber, to examine and take a perfect
survey of all ‘robes, garments, and jewels,’ as well within the Court
as at the Tower and Whitehall. In this, no less than twenty-seven fans
appear. The following are enumerated:—
Item, one fanne of white feathers, with a handle of golde, havinge
two snakes wyndinge aboute it, garnished with a ball of diamondes
in the ende, and a crowne on each side within a paire of winges
garnished with diamondes, lackinge 6 diamondes.
Item, one fanne of feather of divers colours, the handle of golde,
with a bare and a ragged staffe on both sides, and a lookinge glass
on thone side.
Item, one handle of golde enamelled, set with small rubies and
emerodes, lackinge 9 stones, with a shipp under saile on thone side.
Item, one handle of christall, garnished with sylver guilte, with a
worde within the handle.
Item, one handle of elitropia (q), garnished with golde, set with
sparks of diamondes, rubies, and sixe small pearls, lackinge one
diamonde.
The feather-fan appears in the following portraits of Queen Elizabeth,
painted and engraved:—
Jesus College: white feather-fan with jewelled handle.
The Newcome picture, now in the National Portrait Gallery: part of a
feather-fan, the portrait being three-quarter length.
Welbeck: a small feather-fan hanging from girdle.
The engraving by Johann Rutlinger: a large feather-fan, the handle
of elaborate design set with jewels. Also pictures at Cobham; Woburn
Abbey; Charlecote Park; Christ Church, Oxford; Penshurst; Powerscourt,
and other places.
The folding-fan was not introduced into this country until the latter
part of the queen’s reign; in the following pictures it appears:—
Jesus College, half length, 1590.
The Ditchley portrait, whole length, 1592; fan attached to the girdle
and held in right hand.
Bodleian Library, portrait attributed to F. Zucharo.
To enumerate the different portraits, painted and engraved, in which
the feather-fan appears, would be an impossible task; sufficient
has been said to indicate the various forms these articles assumed.
Reference may, however, be made to the feather-fan appearing in Renold
Elstracke’s engraving of Anne of Denmark (queen of James I.); this
consisting of three large ostrich plumes set in a jewelled handle.
To the same engraver’s portrait of the Princess Elizabeth, daughter
of King James, a similar feather-fan. Also on a monumental brass,
illustrated in Lipscomb’s _Buckinghamshire_, vol. iii. 291, the wife
of John Pen, Esquire, 1641, appears with an ostrich feather-fan hung
from her girdle. In a portrait attributed to Sebastian del Piombo at
Frankfurt is an extremely ornate feather-fan with a silver handle.
We also obtain an excellent idea of the form these feather-fans assumed
in Italy in the fifteenth century from the engraved design for a
hand-screen by Agostino Carracci (illustrated facing p. 204). This
consists of an admirably designed cartouche enclosing a subject of a
satyr and nymphs bathing; above is a bust of Diana enclosed in a second
cartouche, at the top of which is a head and wings of a Cupid; the
whole is surmounted by a tuft of ostrich feathers. On the same plate
are three other medallions, Neptune and Minerva, a head of Mars, and
the Graces, these latter either intended as alternative subjects or for
introduction at the back of the fan. The engraving is signed ‘Agust.
Carazza Inv. e fe.’
The feather-fan was used by both sexes, as we learn from Bishop Hall,
describing a fashionable gallant:
‘When a plum’d fan may shade thy _chalked_ face,
And lawny strips thy naked bosom grace.’
An ostrich-plume _folded_ fan is given in a miniature of Mademoiselle
D’Hautefort in the cabinet of M. de la Mésangère. This consists of ten
sticks each with a single feather attached, dyed alternatively yellow
and blue.
Feather-fans continued in general use until the time of Vandyck and
later, and are in evidence in several portraits by this master;
indeed the use of the tuft- and feather-fan has never been completely
abandoned, the article having remained in intermittent use even to the
present day.
None of these ancient feather-fans exist in their complete form, from
the perishable nature of the ostrich plume, which, in the lapse of
time, crumbles to fragments, and from this circumstance the remarkable
feather hand-screen in the possession of Mr. Messel is of the highest
interest.
A few handles, however, are to be found in the various collections,
both public and private. A pretty ivory handle of a sixteenth-century
Italian feather-fan is in the Salting collection, at present at South
Kensington. This is delicately carved with two half-length female
figures issuing from acanthus-leaved ornament, and holding a festoon
of drapery, a mask of Cupid above. Near the handle end are two winged
terminal monsters.
The head of an ivory-fan handle, also Italian of the same period, is
in the South Kensington collection: this has a female terminal (head
restored) and two dolphins forming the top, two masks on either side,
with other terminals and cornucopiæ.
[Illustration: GHOST FAN. Malay Archipelago
(Ethnological Museum, Berlin.)]
[Illustration: Italian Fan, cut vellum mount. finely painted with
miniatures, end of 17th Cent., stick ivory, of later date.
Mr. L. C. R. Messel.]
CHAPTER VI
PAINTED FANS OF THE SEVENTEENTH AND EIGHTEENTH CENTURIES (ITALIAN AND
SPANISH)
The establishment of the Portuguese as a conquering power in the far
East dates from the first expedition of Vasco da Gama in 1497. Five
years earlier, Christopher Columbus had sailed westward over the
Atlantic, bearing a letter from his royal mistress to the great Khán of
Tartary, seeking India and far Cathay, and finding instead—America.
[Illustration: FAN OF FERRARA, OR ‘DUCK’S-FOOT’]
The three expeditions of Vasco da Gama, during the first twenty years
of the sixteenth century, together with the operations of Alfonso
d’Albuquerque, resulted in the complete supremacy of Portugal as a
trading power with the East. From Japan and the Spice Islands to
the Red Sea and the Cape of Good Hope, they were the sole masters
and dispensers of the treasures of the East,[83] and during the
whole of the sixteenth century enjoyed a complete monopoly of the
Oriental trade. As early as 1502, the King of Portugal obtained from
Pope Alexander VI. a bull constituting him ‘Lord of the Navigation,
Conquests, and Trade of Ethiopia, Arabia, Persia, and India,’ but it
was not until 1516 that the Portuguese made their appearance in China,
where, ‘at Ningpo, they succeeded in establishing a colony, carrying on
a gainful trade with other parts of China, as well as with Japan.’[84]
It was thus that the folding-fan found its way first to Portugal
through its traders.
This introduction of the folding-fan into Europe marks the beginning
of a new era of the fan’s history, as, although both Chinese and
Japanese fans possess qualities which are absolutely individual and
unique, yet it must be confessed that the fan, in the hands of European
artists, its early Oriental influence notwithstanding, ultimately
developed a character and style quite its own, and reflecting the
artistic conditions of its epoch and surroundings.
There are, however, considerable grounds for supposing that some
form of the folding-fan, as we now know it, existed in Europe at a
period considerably anterior to the Portuguese expedition to the East.
Viollet-le-Duc, _Dictionnaire Raisonné du Mobilier Français_, makes
a remarkable statement in connection with some thin metal fragments
which were unearthed during some excavation at the Château de Pierre.
These fragments, says this distinguished author, which are very
characteristic of a fan constructed like those of our own times, should
be anterior to the siege of 1422, as they were found in the carbonised
débris belonging to that epoch. They are composed of an alloyed metal,
_cuivre et argent_. The piece _B_ represents one of the outside flats,
and was fixed to a guard of wood or very thin metal, to which was glued
the stuff, or vellum; the piece _A_ one of the branch pieces or brins.
M. Viollet-le-Duc infers from the fact of the pieces not being pierced
at the handle end, but finished with a cross, that the branches were
tied with a silken cord, which would also be attached to the waist
belt; he points out the great antiquity of the flabellum (doubtless
meaning the cockade form), and concludes by saying, ‘It is difficult to
allow that the fan, which is merely a derivation of it (_qui n’en est
qu’un dérivé_), was not in use until the sixteenth century, as several
writers have contended.’
[Illustration:
Photo by J. Leroy.
Découpé Fan.
Musée de Cluny.]
M. Viollet-le-Duc’s meaning as to the probable construction of this fan
is not so clearly stated as might possibly be desired. We take it that
these pieces were but the ornaments of a folding-fan formed of ivory,
wood, or other material on the modern principle—that the large piece
_B_ formed the shoulder, to be completed by another piece forming
the guard proper. However this may be, and whether these pieces really
formed part of a folding-fan or not, this author, in the concluding
portion of his note, has expressed a truth which it is not possible to
gainsay, viz. that the principle of the folding-fan already existed, in
the form of the cockade, and that it is only necessary to divide the
cockade in two parts, and to protect the ends with some firm substance,
to arrive at the folded fan as we now know it. Indeed this was
done—fans were carried towards the close of the sixteenth century which
consisted of a segment of a cockade, inserted in a long handle similar
to that of the plumed fan, thus uniting the characteristics of both
plumed and folded fan. Vecellio, _Habiti antichi et moderni di tutto
il mondo_, 1590, figures these small fans, of which two illustrations
are given. We are thus presented with a decorative development which
is gradual, reasonable, and complete, a development quite conceivably
independent of any importation from the East, and of itself bridging
over the gap that otherwise would have existed between two apparently
opposing types.
[Illustration: A]
[Illustration: B]
[Illustration: SMALL RIGID FANS. (From Vecellio.)]
Any speculations as to how this fan of M. Viollet-le-Duc came to exist
would therefore be idle; the type was no new one. We have already
referred to the pleated fan crest, seen on the heads of horses in
Phœnician and Persian monuments.[85] A similar fan crest appears on the
horse’s head in the
Brétigny seal of Edward III., engraved in consequence of the Treaty
of Brétigny, 1360, by which this monarch renounced the title of King
of France. This appeared again in the seal with the altered legend in
which he resumed the title—the period of its use, 1372-77. This same
seal with fan crest was used successively by Richard II., Henry IV.
(first seal), and Henry VI. (silver seal), the legend only altered.
A still more remarkable example is the large displayed fan crest (the
earliest authenticated instance of a regular crest),[86] in the centre
of which is a lion _passant_, on the top of the flat helmet of Cœur de
Lion (second seal, 1197-99), used after his return from captivity, and
quite possibly, therefore, borrowed from the East.
The fan-plume or panache appears also on the flat-topped helmet of
Alexander III., King of Scots (second seal); the horse also bearing the
fan-plume.
These fan crests are also seen on the seal of Richard Fitz-Alan, Earl
of Arundel; of Humphrey de Bohun, Earl of Hereford, 1301; and of
Edward of Carnarvon, Prince of Wales, 1305; and on the effigy of Sir
Geoffrey de Luttrel, _c._ 1340, showing a fan upon which the entire
Luttrel arms are depicted. A large fan crest, having little tufts of
feathers at each division of the fold, appears on the arms of the
family of Schaler, Basle; another is to be found on the common seal of
the City of London (dated 1539), charged with the cross of the city
arms. ‘In course of time this fan, in the case of London, as in so many
instances, has through ignorance been converted or developed into a
wing, but the “rays” of the fan in this instance are preserved in the
“rays” of the dragon’s wing (charged with a cross) which the crest is
now supposed to be.’[87]
[Illustration: FEATHER-FAN. (Milan.)]
[Illustration: Fan of Mica, Italian, decorated with painted
arabesques, ivory stick, guards with mica insertions.
Mr. L. C. R. Messel.]
With respect to the origin of these fan crests, we must go back,
says Mr. Fox-Davies, to the bed-rock of the peacock popinjay vanity
ingrained in human nature; the same impulse which nowadays leads to the
decoration of the helmets of the Life Guards with horse-hair plumes and
regimental badges, the cocked-hats of field-marshals and other officers
with wavy plumes.... The matter was just a combination of decoration
and vanity.
Notwithstanding the foregoing instances, it is abundantly clear that
the folding-fan, though it may have been in intermittent use during
these early periods, obtained no great vogue in Europe until the
sixteenth century, when it was in general use in Portugal, Spain, and
Italy, and that the prevalence of the fashion was resultant upon the
influx of Eastern manufactures.
The feather-fan, referred to in the last chapter, although regarded as
the sign of nobility, was occasionally carried by the wives of the rich
merchants of Venice. A noble Venetian matron carries a tuft fan with a
mirror in the centre garnished with pearls; the plumed fan is seen in
the hands of the noble demoiselles of Milan, of married Genoese ladies,
of the noble matrons of Siena, the latter of whom, together with the
ladies of Venice, Perugia, and other cities, also carried the flag-fan.
The smaller fan, with long thin handle, surmounted with five or seven
feathers set symmetrically, is carried by the Parmese, Ferrarese, and
Florentine ladies, and by the noble matrons of Genoa.
The Milanese ladies carried a fan made apparently of feathers, rigid,
and bound round in five sections. The married ladies of Naples and
Bologna carried rigid screens designed in the form of a cartouche of
the strap-work so usual in sixteenth-century Renaissance ornament. The
later hand-screens, seen in the engravings of Callot and others, were
obviously a development of this form.
The above instances are cited from the engraved work of A. de
Bruÿn,[88] in which also appears a long-handled fan of seven feathers
carried by a Turkish lady.
In an earlier work by the same engraver, _Imperii ac Sacerdotii
ornatus_, 1579, a bishop holds in his left hand the feather fan, in his
right a crozier.
In the art library, Victoria and Albert Museum, are several designs
for feather-fans and handles, by an unknown artist, but certainly
Italian, drawn vigorously with a pen and washed with bistre. In the
same collection is a design in pencil for the panache of a folding-fan,
in the Italian manner, displaying great knowledge of Renaissance design.
At the commencement of the seventeenth century, and indeed earlier,
small screens were the fashion, painted either with love scenes,
inscribed with suitable verses, or views of Italian towns, with a short
description, and were sold for a sum equivalent to an English groat.
The English traveller, Thomas Coryat, in his _Crudities_ (1608),
writes: ‘These fans both men and women of the country [Italy] do carry
to cool themselves withal in the time of heat, by the often fanning
of their faces. Most of them are very elegant and pretty things, for
whereas the fan consisteth of a painted piece of paper and a little
wooden handle, the paper, which is fastened at the top, is on both
sides most curiously adorned with excellent pictures.’ These, probably,
are the fans referred to above as seen in Vecellio and the work of
other engravers. Many were apparently rigid, and probably formed of
ivory or similar hard substance; the size would be about six inches.
They were by no means confined to Italy, but became the vogue in Spain,
France, and other countries.
A long fan, carried by a noble Neapolitan lady, is given by
Hefner-Altenek, in his work on costume. This is apparently rigid,
since no sign of pleating is apparent in the representation, which is,
however, small.
The colour is blue with decorations of gold, the figure taken from a
picture in an album in the possession of this author, 1596-1611.
Doubtless one of the earliest forms of the folded fan in Italy was
the so-called ‘duck’s foot,’ used by the ladies of Ferrara; the leaf,
which opened to a quarter of a circle, was formed of alternate strips
of vellum and mica, with delicately painted ornaments. The stick was of
ivory and consisted of eight narrow blades. Blondel would seem to infer
that this type of fan originated in France, and cites a contemporary
portrait of ‘un personnage du Bal sous Henri III.’ A fan, evidently the
‘duck’s foot,’ with a pattern agreeing with the system of mica or other
insertion, appears in an engraved portrait of Louise de Lorraine, queen
of Henri III.
This form of fan is, however, probably Italian in its origin; it is
figured by Vecellio, in the hands of a lady of Ferrara; it is also seen
in the earlier engraved work of de Bruÿn, above referred to.
Legendary accounts of the woes of the unfortunate Torquato Tasso, who
had dared to ‘lift his love’ to a princess of the house of Este, have
afforded many themes for the imagination of subsequent writers from
Byron and Goethe downwards. The story of the fan of Eleonora d’Este,
which was of the form above described, surmounted with rubies, is a
pretty one, and may be given for what it is worth.
On a day when reading to the princess his _Gerusalemme_, in which the
episode of Olindo and Sofronia in the second canto was intended as
portraying Tasso’s own situation with regard to her, his enraptured
listener, won by the charm of the moment, was on the point of yielding,
when, by a supreme effort, she recalled herself to her sense of duty,
hesitated for a moment, grasped her fan, kissed it, flung it at the
poet’s feet—and fled.
This association of vellum and mica appears to have been pretty general
for the leaves of the folding-fans upon their first introduction in the
middle of the sixteenth century. There were two different systems: in
the one, the decoration consisted of painting on the plain surface of
the mica or vellum, or both, as in the fan of Ferrara, or the Actæon
fan, described on page 146; and in the other, the leaf is cut to such
a degree of elaboration as almost to rival the finest lace, as in the
charming fan in the Musée de Cluny, illustrated.
The system of mica insertion was developed until fans were made
entirely of this material, with painted arabesque decoration similar
in character to that of the Actæon fan at Cluny, illustrated page 146.
An extremely interesting example is illustrated from the collection of
Mr. L. C. R. Messel. In this, the stick is of plain ivory, perforated
on the panaches, the blades numbering thirteen. The leaf is divided
into three rows of twenty-five panels each, decorated with a medley
of arabesques of children, animals, birds, and flowers, the panels
separated by narrow borders in blue and black.
Of découpé fans, no finer example could be given than that from the
Musée de Cluny, the stick of which is composed of ten blades of bone,
the two outer ones extending the whole length of the leaf, the rest to
a little less than half-way across. The leaf, which occupies exactly
three-fourths of the whole length, is of paper cut to an extremely
refined geometrical pattern of circles and lozenges, with small, and
even minute pieces of mica inserted at intervals, imparting a richness
and variety to the fan without destroying its lightness and elegance.
This type of fan appears constantly in the portraits, both painted
and engraved, of the latter half of the sixteenth century. It reached
England, apparently, about 1590, or a little earlier, and is seen in
the portraits of Queen Elizabeth painted about this date.
This art of elaborate perforation (découpé) is essentially Italian
in its origin, and was evidently practised to a considerable extent
during the period we have been considering. In the fan which has
become associated with Mademoiselle Desroches, the utmost degree of
elaboration is attained, and this example may be accepted as a type
of a number of fans produced during the seventeenth century and later.
[Illustration: Venus & Adonis by Leonardo Germo., stick tortoiseshell,
gilt. Italian, early 18th Cent.
Wyatt Coll^n V. & A. Museum.]
It was at a gathering of wits at Poitiers in 1579 that Étienne
Pasquier, perceiving a flea on the neck of Mlle. Desroches, exclaimed
that ‘la petite bestiole’ deserved to be immortalised. A collection of
poems in Greek, Latin, French, Spanish, and Italian, was published in
Paris in 1582, under the title of _La Pulce de Mademoiselle Desroches_,
the most felicitous of these plaisanteries being, according to La
Monnaye, from the pen of the lady herself.
The fan leaf, said to commemorate this event, once in the possession
of the fair Pompadour, and now in the Jubinal collection at Paris, is
of paper, elaborately cut to imitate lace. This leaf—the stick has
long since perished—was exhibited at the great exhibition of fans at
South Kensington in 1870. It bears five finely painted miniatures
representing the senses; in the centre picture (touch) a young man
places his finger on the bosom of a sleeping lady, the spot on the neck
presumably representing ‘la petite bestiole.’[89]
The charming fan in the possession of Mr. L. C. R. Messel was obtained
in Florence. The vellum leaf is finely perforated throughout; the
large centre cartouche and series of small oblong panels are painted
with exquisite minuteness and care. The character of the decoration
is that of the later years of the seventeenth century, the stick of a
subsequent date.
The great spirit of the Renaissance had well-nigh exhausted itself by
the time the folded fan had become the vogue in Europe. Michael Angelo,
the last of the Titans, died in 1564, and had lived long enough to
witness the gradual extinction of the school he in great part created.
Pierino del Vaga and Sebastian del Piombo had died seventeen years
earlier.
The eclectic principle, developed to its highest attainable point by
Raphael, Michael Angelo, Leonardo, was carried on by a crowd of men
working on similar lines, but possessing far less knowledge and power,
and what was vital truth in the work of the master was reduced to mere
affectation in the hands of the follower.
During the closing years of the century, Italian art, it is true,
received some sort of impetus as a result of the labours of the
Carracci, but the revival was short-lived, and it remained to Guido,
Guercino, Albani, Maratta, to continue the declension during the
seventeenth, to be followed by Tiepolo and Canaletto in the eighteenth
centuries.
It would serve no good purpose to quarrel with the painted folding-fan
on account of its inability to rise to the high ideals of the quattro
and cinque-cento. It belonged to a less spacious age, and if it
descended to banality, it was because the times had become banal: it
was entirely in tune with its surroundings.
It will be convenient, at this juncture, to describe in detail the
various elements composing this fan-type which has easily distanced
all others in the affections of the fair—a triumph so absolute and
complete, that to ninety-nine women out of every hundred the idea of a
fan is an instrument which may be folded.
The folding-fan, then, is made up of two principal parts—the stick (_la
monture_) _B B_ and the leaf or mount (_la feuille_)_ A_. The former
consists of a number of blades (_brins_) _C C C C_, which have varied
at different periods, and are folded between two guards (_panaches_)
_D_. The guard is made up of three dimensions: the handle-end (_la
tête_) _I_, through which passes the pin (_rivure_) _E_—this is often
jewelled; the shoulder (_gorge_) _II_, reaching to the lower edge of
the mount; and the guard proper _III_.
[Illustration: An Embarcation, stick ivory. silver piqué. Italian or
French. end of 17th. Cent.
Mrs Hamilton Smythe.]
[Illustration: Cupid’s Hive. Child’s Fan, or Pocket Fan. Italian, early
18th. Cent., 12-1/2 x 6-7/8.
The Dowager Marchioness of Bristol.]
The stick of the richer painted fans is composed of either ivory,
mother of pearl, tortoise-shell, or bone: often carved with great
minuteness, elaboration, and skill, and further enriched by gilding and
inlay, painted miniatures, enamels, and precious stones; that of the
less elaborate fan is of wood of various kinds—ebony, rosewood, bamboo,
etc. It is also carved, gilt, inlaid, or lacquered in different ways.
The character of Italian sticks is that of simplicity and reticence,
even to plainness, this being more in keeping with the generally grave
character of the mounts. In a number of instances the brins present
a perfectly flat, plain surface of ivory, relieved only by a little
carving on the panaches. This is ornamented in various ways, the most
characteristic method being that of gold and silver piqué. The work is
done by means of a drill, the metal pressed into the spaces.
One of these Italian fans of the end of the seventeenth century, with
plain white stick, is in the Wyatt collection, the skin mount painted
with the Storming of Jerusalem, and the miraculous curing of Godfrey de
Bouillon’s wound, the guards piqué with silver.
The beautiful Italian fan, with sea-nymphs upon a sandy shore,
once belonging to the unfortunate Marie-Antoinette, and now in the
possession of Mr. Burdett-Coutts, is an example of the best quality of
piqué work. The stick is of horn of a light transparent golden hue. The
panaches bear the crown and fleur-de-lys of France, and appear to be of
somewhat later date than the brins and feuille, which may be put about
1760. The fan was acquired in Paris during the troublous times of the
Revolution by the father of the late Rev. J. E. Edwards of Trentham,
and exhibited by the last named at South Kensington in 1870. Upon the
death of Mr. Edwards in 1885 it was purchased by the late Baroness
Burdett-Coutts.
Another method of ornamentation is that of delicate piercing, the
surface of the stick remaining flat and without carving. These pierced
ivory sticks are occasionally alternated with those of another
material, as light golden tortoise-shell, horn, and, in an instance in
the Wyatt collection, with a mount of classical landscape and Pompeian
ornament, pierced cedar.
The Italians, as also the Greeks, discovered early the resources
offered to the artist by the material of ivory. Ariosto in his sixth
elegy makes a charming reference to it in addressing his mistress:
‘As when ivory or marble wrought by the hand of the artist becomes
unchangeable, so my heart, more inflexible than these, though it may
fear the hand of the assassin, is incapable of receiving the image of
any new love to remove thine which is engraven upon it.’
The richest sticks are either those in which the piercing is associated
with carved panels or cartouches of figures, ornament, etc., with the
ribbed backgrounds familiar to us in Chinese workmanship, or those
of which the whole surface is treated in the most delicate relief,
exhibiting the most consummate skill of handling. This is occasionally
further enriched by gilding, silvering, and painting; in some
instances, these several processes are associated, with the addition of
mother-of-pearl and tortoise-shell inlay.
Mother-of-pearl is treated in precisely the same way as ivory, _i.e._
flat-pierced; pierced and carved; pierced, carved, and engraved; with,
in some instances, the addition of painting, and occasionally tinsel
and silvering or gilding.
The various kinds of mother-of-pearl used in the manufacture of fans
are as follows:—The Burgan or Burgandine pearl obtained from Japan; the
white pearl, ‘poulette,’ from Madagascar; a black mother-of-pearl from
the East. The shells being relatively small, it becomes necessary to
piece them together by a system of splicing. This is done so skilfully
that none but a practised eye is able to detect it. For the
process of inlay and incrustation, the splendid Eastern pearl called
‘gold fish’ is used. This, upon its introduction, caused a complete
revolution in the ‘éventail de luxe’; the magnificent rainbow tints of
this pearl are said to be further enhanced by a process invented by M.
Meyer.
[Illustration: Bacchus & Ariadne, after Guido, c.1830. 20-1/2 x 11-1/2
Lady Northcliffe.]
[Illustration: The Triumph of Bacchus, after Annibale Carracci,
19-3/4 x 11.
Lady Northcliffe.]
Tortoise-shell follows the same principle of decorative development,
and when piqué is employed, it is usually gold, as being more in
harmony with the colour of the shell.
The ‘éventail brisé’ dates from the period of the first introduction
of the folded fan into Europe. This is so named because it has no
mount, but is entirely made up of a number of blades, which may be of
any material—ivory, mother-of-pearl, the various woods, etc., and are
painted, carved, or otherwise decorated, fastened at the head by means
of a pin or rivet, and further connected with a ribbon running through
each blade, at or near the circumference of the fan.
The earliest are those which were imported in such large quantities
from the East, from the latter part of the sixteenth century
onwards. The Western modification of these is seen in that class of
fans produced in Italy and elsewhere during the latter part of the
seventeenth and early eighteenth centuries, which consisted of a
system of flat, pierced scroll-work, of a somewhat severe and reticent
character. This was supplemented by panels _en cartouche_ painted and
gilt, with portions of the ornament enriched with gold and colour;
these usually opened out to rather less than a third of a circle.
Miss Moss of Fleet possesses an interesting example with a painted
‘pastorale’ of three figures in the centre of the fan, together with
lesser subjects _en cartouche_, the floral portion of the scroll
ornament being emphasised with colour.
In the Wyatt collection is an interesting example of about 1730, in
which the ornament forms a large cartouche in the centre, enclosing
a subject of two Cupids holding a wreath over a heart with a canopy
above. The cartouche is gilt and the figures painted; the lower portion
of the fan is painted and gilt with flowers in the Chinese taste. The
guards are carved, painted, and gilt; the connecting ribbon of green
silk ornamented with a pattern in gold.
This system was practised later, with the addition of carving in low
relief, the ornament having developed a rococo character.
Horn is treated in the same process of flat piercing: this was
extensively practised during the whole of the eighteenth century,
and many ‘minuet’ fans were made. A beautiful Italian example of
these ‘minuet’ fans is in the Wyatt collection, decorated with silver
spangles, with a white silk connecting ribbon.
Double or reversible fans open both ways—either from left to right
or the reverse. These were in vogue during the latter years of the
eighteenth century, and were made of various materials, but usually
ivory, with painted ornaments. The most interesting were, however,
those of sandalwood, with three printed medallions on either side of
the fan, giving twelve subjects. The device, although surprising at
first sight, is really simple, and consists of printing each blade with
portions of two different subjects in the centre, one set of halves
being exposed, the other covered by the blade next following.
These fans were common to most of the Western countries of Europe,
a large number being made in England with subjects after Angelica
Kauffmann and others.
The materials employed for the mount are chicken skin (so called, but
really kid subjected to a particular treatment), asses’ skin, vellum,
parchment, silk of various kinds, satin, lace, and paper.
The leaf or mount is sometimes single, but more often double. Those of
the richer fans are painted either in transparent colour or in gouache
(body colour); the latter, however, must not be applied too thickly on
account of its liability to crack.
[Illustration: Marriage of Cupid & Psyche, c. 1760. stick modern.
Mr Frank Falkner.]
When the leaf is ready for mounting,_ i.e._ after the painting is
finished, it is pleated in a mould consisting of two pieces of thick,
strong paper or cardboard, specially prepared with a coating of an
oily nature; the leaf being placed between, and the mould closed and
pressed. The brins are then introduced between the folds, and fixed by
means of glue. This mould was invented about 1760, and the manufacture
of it has remained since that date in the French family of Petit.[90]
‘This operation of pleating,’ says M. Duvelleroy (_Rapports du Jury
International, Exposition Universelle_, 1867, vol. iv.), ‘very simple
at present, was formerly very complicated; it was necessary for the
éventaillistes to exercise the most scrupulous exactitude; now the
mould dispenses with this care.’
Nothing that woman uses in the great art of pleasing can, however, be
considered simple; do you doubt this fact? asks Charles Blanc, speaking
of the modern collective mercantile system, rather than that of the
artist, who begins his work and carries it to completion with his own
hands. ‘No less than fifteen or twenty persons are employed in the
making of a fan, which passes through three series of operations—1st,
the work of the stick, in which are employed the cutter, the carver,
the polisher, the gilder, the inlayer, the riveter, and sometimes the
jewel setter, who inserts the precious stones; 2nd, the leaf, which
requires the designer, painter, or printer as the case may be; 3rd,
the work altogether, employing the gluer, and in the case of spangled
or embroidered fans, the embroiderer or sempstress, and the folder
or pleater.’ Finally, as in fitting, the last finishing touches—the
tassels, tufts, and marabouts are added by the deft hand of a woman,
and to quote again Charles Blanc, ‘when this formidable weapon of
coquetry is completed, it is enclosed in a case, like a well-tempered
blade in its sheath.’[91]
The most distinctive Italian mounts are those in which the whole
field is occupied by subjects, usually from classic mythology. These
are either direct replicas or rearrangements of the works of the later
Italian masters—Giulio Romano, the Carracci, Guido, Guercino, as well
as those French artists who either worked in Italy, or whose works
found their way to that country, as Poussin, who spent the greater part
of his life in Rome, Le Brun, and others. In these the chief interest
centres in the mount, which is usually deep, and generally of skin, but
occasionally of paper. The painting is in pure water-colour and also
in gouache. In many instances these leaves have never been mounted;
in others, the mount has been removed from the stick, and framed as
a picture. None can with any measure of certainty be traced to a
master-hand, although a fan appeared at the exhibition held in Drapers’
Hall (1878), which is declared to be by Pietro da Cortona (Berrettini),
1596-1667, and said to have belonged to the Marquise de Pompadour.
One of the earliest of these fan-mounts is in the possession of Mr.
J. G. Rosenberg of Karlsruhe; the subject Orpheus and Iphigenia, the
date about 1670. In the Jubinal collection is a Rape of the Sabines, an
original design by F. Romanelli, who was employed by Louis XIV. on the
frescoes in the Bibliothèque Mazarine.
Bacchus and Ariadne was a favourite subject—Guido’s well-known
composition in the Accademia di Luca, at Rome, being often pressed
into the service. The large engraving of Jacobus Freij was issued in
1727, and it is probable that the majority of mounts decorated with
this subject were produced after the publication of the engraving. The
version illustrated is from the collection of Lady Northcliffe; a skin
mount, with slight differences in the arrangement, was exhibited at
South Kensington in 1870 by Captain J. E. Ottley; a third is in the
cabinet of an American collector.
[Illustration: Bacchus & Ariadne, Italian, from a fresco at Pompeii,
18th Cent., bought in Naples by Lady Duncannnon.
Mrs. Bruce Johnston.]
[Illustration: Fan mount, Italian, from a fresco at Pompeii, gouache on
skin bought in Naples by Lady Ponsonby.
Mrs Bruce Johnston.]
The famous composition by Annibale Carracci in the Farnese Palace also
appears on a number of mounts; a portion of this picture forms the
subject of the centre medallion of Lady Northcliffe’s fan (illustrated).
The still more popular ‘Aurora’ of Guido supplied the subject of many
mounts, including one in the Schreiber collection, British Museum.
Fans painted with Raphael’s well-known composition of the ‘Marriage
of Cupid and Psyche,’ in the Villa Farnesina at Rome, appear in many
collections, the landscape being added; the example illustrated is a
typical one; the stick, however, is modern.
The fan in the Wyatt collection with the subject of Venus and Adonis,
by Leonardo Germo of Rome, is interesting from the fact that it is an
example of an artist, who, apparently, signed a number of fans, and
also from the circumstance that it formerly belonged to Benjamin West.
The mount is kid, the stick tortoise-shell, engraved, silvered, and
gilt.
A fan with the subject of the Triumph of Mordecai, signed ‘Germo,’ was
exhibited at South Kensington in 1870 by M. Chardin of Paris.
Another example in the possession of Lady Northcliffe has an
allegorical subject by Germo, on skin, the stick of ivory finely
carved, the guards mother-of-pearl.
Somewhat akin to the mounts above described are those elaborate
compositions finely drawn in India ink, with pen or brush, on skin
mounts, usually vellum. These, from the absence of colour, were used
as mourning fans, the sticks invariably of ivory, piqué, or carved;
they are included in most collections that make any pretension to
completeness. Lady Bristol possesses one with the subject of Bacchus
and Ariadne after Carracci; but by far the most splendid example of
this class of fan appeared in the Walker sale in 1882. This is a
crowded composition of the Triumph of Alexander (after Le Brun), in
which the conqueror is seated in a chariot drawn by elephants; on the
reverse the death of Actæon. The stick and guards mother-of-pearl,
carved with Cupids and ornaments, painted in panels with episodes in
the life of Alexander. Finely variegated gilding.
These fans are characteristically Italian, certainly Italian in their
origin. Their production, however, was by no means confined to Italy.
M. Duvelleroy has a Dutch example with ivory stick carved _à jour_, the
mount vellum, the subject on the obverse representing an embarkation
with numerous figures, on the reverse a dance of peasants with
musicians. (Illustration facing p. 192.)
Neapolitan fans divide themselves into two distinct classes or
groups—the first having a figure subject _en cartouche_ in the centre,
usually taken from classic mythology, the field being occupied by that
form of arabesque (grotteschi), so usual in Pompeian wall decoration.
This class of mount dates from the re-discovery and unearthing of
Pompeii in 1748, and its production was continued until the end of the
century and later. Two excellent examples are given from the collection
of Mrs. Bruce Johnston, formerly in the possession of Lord Bessborough.
The one with the subject of Bacchus and Ariadne, from a fresco at
Pompeii, bought in Naples by Lady Duncannon; the other of a sacrificial
subject, also from a Pompeian fresco, obtained in the same city (in the
eighteenth century) by Lady Ponsonby.
Many of these mounts have, in lieu of a single central subject, several
miniatures _en cartouche_, associated with arabesques similar in
character to those above referred to. A good example appears in the
Wyatt collection at South Kensington.
In the second type of Neapolitan mounts, the field is similarly divided
into panels, usually one superior and two inferior, representing views,
generally the bay of Naples with Vesuvius in the distance, forming the
centre panel, and Vesuvius in eruption, and a classic ruin on either
side. These, with other Italian views, as the Colosseum in Rome, form a
very large class; the panels being associated with arabesque or other
ornaments.
[Illustration: Piazza of St Mark, after Canaletto, skin mount, ivory
stick finely carved with characters of the theatre &c. painted & gilt.
Mr W. Burdett-Coutts. M.P.]
Another, important class of Italian mounts gives a view of some
famous building or place, occupying the whole field of the fan. Of
this, no finer example could be given than the magnificent fan in the
possession of Mr. W. Burdett-Coutts, M.P., of the Piazza of St. Mark’s,
Venice, after Canaletto (Antonio Canal, b. 1687, d. 1768). The mount
is skin; on the right is a group of performing acrobats surrounded
by spectators; on the left some strolling players, with peregrinic
theatre; on the reverse a view of Venice from the sea. The stick ivory,
carved _à jour_, with characters of the pantomime, some being gilt and
painted in ‘vernis Martin,’ others in the pure ivory; the guards carved
with marks and musical trophies.
These acrobats, one of the popular Venetian amusements of the period,
appear in ‘A Fête on the Piazzetta,’ school of Canaletto, in the
Wallace collection.
This fan, together with one of a similar class, with a view of St.
Peter’s at Rome, was acquired by the late Baroness at the Walker sale
in 1882.
Fans were made for children in Italy and most other countries during
the eighteenth century. These were both painted and printed, the latter
variety often having the numerals 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 0, on the
leaf, doubtless as serving an educational purpose. A collection of
these children’s fans was exhibited by Miss Marie Josephs at Drapers’
Hall in 1890.
The beautiful Italian fan, ‘Cupid’s Hive,’ contributed by Lady
Bristol, is so charming in the skill of its painted leaf, and the
delicate carving of its ivory-jewelled stick, that it is difficult
to conceive of its having been placed in the hands of a child.
These fans occasionally appear in painted portraits, the Infanta
Margaretha-Theresia, by Velasquez, in the Vienna Gallery, being an
instance.
The foregoing includes all the principal types of fans produced in
Italy during the period we have under consideration; they each present
well-marked characteristics, and are therefore not difficult of
identification. We have abundant written testimony to the superiority
of the Italian workmen during the seventeenth century, and to the
extent of the Italian export trade in fans during this period and even
later. We have also the evidence of the fans themselves; we shall
see, too, how the Paris éventaillistes first learned their craft from
the Italian workmen who migrated northward. At the beginning of the
eighteenth century, however, a complete change had taken place in
the conditions of fan production, this period witnessing the rise of
the French export trade, and the middle of the century its highest
development, at which latter period Paris supplied not only Italy but
Spain, and to some extent England also. Of this we have more than a
hint from the pen of one of the most distinguished Italians of the
latter half of the century.
The fan of Goldoni’s comedy was one of the ordinary sort, ‘not worth
perhaps five paoli.’ The concluding lines of the play make it clear
that a considerable trade in the cheaper French fans was done in Italy
at this period (1763), and, by inference, that Paris fans had the best
reputation, unless indeed we are to suppose that this was a compliment
paid by Goldoni to the country of his adoption, from which, too, he
enjoyed a pension:
CANDIDA (_to_ SUSANNA). It is from Paris, this fan?
SUSANNA. Yes, from Paris; I guarantee it.
GELTRUDE. Come, I invite you all to supper, and we will drink to this
fan which did all the harm and brought all the good.
[Illustration: Spanish Fan, skin mount, painted in the Chinese taste.
stick ivory, richly carved.
Lady Lindsay.]
PAINTED FANS OF THE SEVENTEENTH AND EIGHTEENTH CENTURIES—_Continued_
SPANISH
[Illustration: RIGID SCREEN (Carried by the married ladies of Bologna.)]
The Spaniards, says Henri Estienne, carried towards 1440 large round
screens garnished with plumes, and in the sixteenth century folded
fans, _éventails plissés_, enriched with gold and attached to the
waist by a gold cord. Of these latter, many, doubtless, were imported
from Italy; few, probably, were of native workmanship. A very small
pleated fan appears in the hand of a Spanish lady, illustrated in
Vecellio, 1590. The rigid flag-fan employed in Italy at this period
was also used in Spain, together with the various plumed fans, some in
the shape of a peacock’s tail; others formed of the feathers of the
ostrich, pheasant, parrot, and Indian raven. During the seventeenth
century and later, a large export trade in unpainted pleated fans
was done in Paris to Madrid and other Spanish cities, where they
were decorated by native artists; many were exported complete, the
authenticity of many so-called Spanish fans must always therefore
remain a more or less doubtful question. The well-known story of Cano
de Arevalo, given in Quilliet’s _Dictionnaire des peintres espagnols_,
sufficiently testifies to the extent of the Paris export trade and the
popularity of French fans during this period. This painter, who was a
capable miniaturist, finding himself impoverished after a period of
extravagance and dissipation, secluded himself for a whole winter,
produced a number of fans, and passed them off as newly-imported French
ones. The trick proved completely successful, for upon its discovery,
he was not only hailed as a master, but was subsequently appointed
_abaniquero_ (fan-maker) to the queen. Cano was born at Valdemoro in
1656, and was assassinated in a bull-fight at Madrid in 1696. From the
same source (Quilliet) we learn that Cano also ‘essayed water-colour
painting on a larger scale, but only succeeded with fans,’ which are
still esteemed, the few that are preserved.
This success of Cano must necessarily have given a considerable impetus
to the native production of fans, largely used from the fifteenth
century onwards by men as well as women.
In brief, the story of Spanish painting during the whole of the
sixteenth century is that of a general migration of Spanish artists
to Italy for purposes of study, with a consequent strong Italian
influence; and an immigration of Italian artists to Spain, chiefly at
the invitation of Charles V. The seventeenth century witnessed the rise
and full development of a purely native school of painting, headed
by Velasquez and Murillo, who, however, can scarcely be said to have
exercised any influence upon the fan, since they were painters pure and
simple, _i.e._ their works were distinguished by the qualities of the
painter rather than those of the designer; and, especially in the case
of Velasquez, their subjects were unsuitable to the fan.
We do not usually look to the last-named painter for elaboration of
detail. The folding-fan in the hands of the Spanish lady by Velasquez,
‘La Femme à l’Éventail,’ at Hertford House, would appear to be of
leather, judging from the colour and texture, with applied ornaments
at regular intervals. This is probably of the scented variety,
_peau de senteur_, made both in Italy and Spain at this period.[92]
We have already referred to the portrait of the little Infanta
Margaretha-Theresia by Velasquez in the Vienna Gallery, in which a
closed folding-fan is represented.
[Illustration: Rinaldo in the Garden of Armida, French, Louis XV. stick
tortoise-shells finely carved, painted & gilt.
Miss Moss.]
[Illustration: Capture of the Balearic Islands, 1759, Spanish.
Mr L. C. R. Messel.]
In the Prado at Madrid appear the following portraits:—
MENGS. Maria Giuseppa, Archduchess of Austria, a closed folding-fan,
jewelled.
” Maria Carolina, Queen of Naples, a folding-fan.
LOPEZ. Queen Maria Cristina di Borbone, a closed folding-fan.
GOYA. Queen Maria Luisa, a closed folding-fan.
The interesting fan representing the capture of the Balearic Islands
by the Spaniards in 1759 may be taken as of Spanish workmanship. The
subject is taken from a painting in the Escurial. The stick is ivory,
carved _à jour_ with three cartouches, painted and gilt; in the centre
appear figures of commanders on horseback, a march of troops on the one
side and warships on the other; the background ‘gold-fish’ inlay. The
paper mount is painted in gouache; and on the reverse is a view of a
fort. The style of the painting presents similar characteristics to a
fan mount in the Schreiber collection, British Museum, in which we are
introduced to a ‘Carrousel at Madrid,’ with a large square filled with
spectators appearing at the windows of the houses; in the centre of
the background is a pavilion with the king and suite, inscribed Carlos
III., and a performance of a number of horsemen led by the ‘Duque de
Médinacéli,’ the ‘Marques de Tabara,’ and the ‘Marques de Aztorga.’ The
leaf, which has been removed from the stick, is of paper, painted in
gouache. A fan of this subject appeared in the exhibition of fans at
South Kensington in 1870, in the possession of Madame Charles Heine of
Paris; the stick of tortoise-shell, carved and gilt.
This same king, who succeeded to the Spanish throne in 1759, figures
as the subject of two fan designs in the Schreiber collection, the one
representing his triumphal entry into Naples in 1734 on his election to
the crown of the Two Sicilies, with the subject inscribed in Spanish;
the leaf signed ‘F^o La Vega Hisp. Let. D.’; below the picture, ‘Miñado
por Cayetano Pichini Romano.’ The other, a companion fan design,
represents the sham-fight and siege of Gaeta in 1734 on the occasion
referred to above; a canopy bears the arms of Spain, and on either side
a trophy with the arms of Medicis and Farnese; the subject inscribed
in Spanish: ‘F^{oo} La Vega Hispa^s Bilbilitanus In^v e Delineavit Roma’
and ‘Mi^nado Por Leonardo Egiarmon Flamenco.’ Both these fan designs
are vigorously drawn with pen in bistre and worked with India ink, the
style betraying a strong late Italian influence.
One of the first acts of Charles, upon his accession to the throne, was
to enter into a treaty with Louis XV. known as the ‘Pacte de famille,’
by which these two kings of the house of Bourbon united themselves
into an offensive and defensive alliance. By the terms of this treaty,
signed 15th August 1761, Spain was obliged to take part in the war in
which France and England were then engaged, France hoping to avail
herself of the maritime power of Spain, and to prevent Portugal from
declaring common cause with England. Its only effect, however, was
to inflict upon her ally a series of disasters similar to her own,
Spain losing Cuba, Manilla, and the Philippine Islands, and France
Martinique, besides being finally expelled from Canada, thus completing
the work begun by Wolfe at Quebec some two years previously.
The sequel to these events was the Treaty of Paris in 1763, the
preliminaries of peace being signed at Fontainebleau on the 3rd
November of the previous year.
By the terms of this instrument, Canada, the islands of Minorca,
Grenada and the Grenadines, St. Vincent, Dominica and Tobago were ceded
to Britain, while to France were restored Belleisle on the French
coast, the islands of St. Pierre and Miquelon near Newfoundland,
Martinique, Guadaloupe, Marigalante, Desirade, and St. Lucia in the
West Indies. Havannah was restored to Spain, the Spaniards in return
ceding Florida to the English, and agreeing also to make peace with
Portugal.
[Illustration: The betrothal of Louis XVI. & Marie Antoinette, Spanish,
skin mount, tortoiseshell stick, gold & silver incrustations.
Mrs Frank W. Gibson (Eugènie Joachim)]
In _La Revue Hispanique_, tome viii., appeared an article by M.
Gabriel Marcel, reprinted in pamphlet form under the title of ‘Un
Éventail Historique du dix-huitième siècle, Paris, 1901,’ describing
and illustrating a remarkable fan in the cabinet of a Parisian amateur
whose name is not given, commemorating the event above referred to.
The stick is ivory, carved with an agreeable pell-mell of cartouches,
gilt; the centre being occupied by a _conversation galante_ of four
figures in the costume of the Watteau period.
In the centre of the skin leaf, finely painted in gouache, is a stone
table carved in high relief with figures of Cupids, near which are
the Kings of France and Spain, each accompanied by a female figure
representing the respective countries, and bearing a shield of arms;
above, a figure of Peace crowned with olive leaves appears from the
clouds and directs the ceremony. In the middle distance is a tribune on
which are seated three female figures, with a cornucopia of abundance,
and the arms of France and Spain; above is a figure of Fame with a
trumpet.
In the more immediate foreground are the Kings of England and Portugal,
their identity being determined by the blazoning of the shields which
accompany them. Court officials, together with their ladies, complete
the composition.
The reverse, which is less interesting, and probably by another hand,
represents an architectural structure with, again, the arms of France,
and above, those of France and Spain entwined.
Although it is possible that the fan may be of Spanish manufacture,
it is more probably French, since it bears all the characteristics of
French work of the period of Louis Quinze. It was probably made either
for a royal princess, or for the wife of some prominent official who
took part in the negotiations of the treaty.
The classical revival of the middle of the eighteenth century was not
without its effect on Spain; fans being painted in this country also
with subjects from the Greek mythology. At the exhibition at South
Kensington in 1870, the Dowager-Countess of Craven exhibited a large
Spanish dress fan, the mount richly painted on vellum, with a centre
subject of Aurora and Zephyr, the floral ornaments embossed in gold and
spangled; the stick carved ivory and mother-of-pearl, with figures in
gold relief variegated and spangled, jewelled stud.[93]
Towards the middle of the eighteenth century onwards, a class of fan
was made in which the stick, usually of tortoise-shell, but also
of ivory and other material, was elaborately pierced and carved,
occasionally in the most ornate fashion, the brins numbering from eight
to ten, the guards wide, both being heavily incrusted with gold and
silver. The mounts of these fans were always narrow, measuring about
three-sevenths of the length of the stick. This class of fan, examples
of which appear in most collections, by general consent has been
associated with Spain, although, doubtless, it was produced in other
countries also.
One of the earliest of these fans, as well as one of the finest, is
that in the possession of Lady Bristol, described and illustrated in
the succeeding chapter, page 163. This, from the skill displayed in its
finely designed stick, and the style of its delicately painted leaf, is
more probably French than Spanish. Interesting examples of this class
of fan are given from the collections of H.R.H. the Princess Victor
of Hohenlohe-Brandenburg and Mrs. Frank W. Gibson. In the first-named
instance the stick is tortoise-shell, with gold incrustations of figures
of Roman warriors, musicians in the costume of the period of the fan
(_c._ 1780), Cupids, and other ornaments: the leaf a pretty pastoral;
the work, although probably Spanish, showing a strong French influence.
Mrs. Gibson’s fan belonged to her grandmother, who was a Spaniard;
the leaf, probably, represents the betrothal of Louis XVI. and Marie
Antoinette, Louis being but sixteen at the time of his marriage in
1770. The Austrian Court was closely allied to that of Spain; and this
subject, therefore, would naturally appeal to the Spaniards. A wedding
fan occurs in the collection of Lady Lindsay, having for its centre
medallion a lady’s dressing-room, with Cupid holding a mirror; on the
sides are a Cupid lighting his torch from an altar, and a Cupid with
bow and arrows. The stick of tortoise-shell, finely silvered and gilt.
CORRIGENDUM
Page 132, line 12 from bottom, _for_ H.R.H. the Princess Victor of
Hohenlohe-Brandenburg, _read_ H.S.H. the Princess Victor of Hohenlohe
Langenburg.
END OF CORRIGENDUM
[Illustration: Pastorelle, Spanish, c. 1780. skin mount, tortoiseshell
stick, gilt incrustations.
H.S.H. Princess Victor of Hohenlohe-Langenburg.]
A remarkable fan in this same collection was brought from Madrid by
Lady Canning, who accompanied Sir Stratford Canning to Spain on a
special mission from Queen Victoria, and was given to Lady Lindsay in
1878. The stick is of ivory, finely and elaborately carved; the mount,
skin, painted in the Chinese taste; illustrated facing p. 127.
The character of Spanish work of the stick, which, with a few isolated
exceptions, never reached a high level of attainment, materially
deteriorated towards the close of the century. A fan appears in the
Schreiber collection, with ivory stick, indifferently carved and gilt,
the silk leaf having for its subject a large medallion of the surrender
of Minorca in 1782, with the English army evacuating the island,
and the Spanish flag waving over the fort of S. Phelippe; the sides
decorated with vases of flowers embroidered, painted, and spangled; the
subject inscribed in Spanish along the top border of the fan.
Of the treatment of the stick, two interesting examples in the Wyatt
collection may be referred to—the one, belonging to the early part
of the century, in which painted trellis-work in blue and brown is
introduced as a background to finely pierced and carved cartouches of
figures and other subjects, the ornament being enriched with gold; the
other with a paper mount representing the visit of the Queen of Sheba
to Solomon (probably a church-fan), the mother-of-pearl sticks engraved
with three figure subjects _en cartouche_, with elaborate scroll-work;
the leading features of the ornament, together with portions of the
figures, being emphasised with thin lines of gold, having an extremely
pleasant effect; _c._ 1750.
Spanish painting in the latter half of the eighteenth century
experienced some revival in the person of Francisco Goya, one of the
most extraordinary personalities who ever wielded a brush, and whose
greatness is only just beginning to be adequately recognised, chiefly,
however, on account of his etchings, of which he produced a number.[94]
If we may conceive Goya as ever touching the fan, the example
illustrated, from the collection of Lady Northcliffe, is just such a
one as he might have painted. At any rate this may be considered as a
typical Spanish fan. The silk leaf has in the centre a mounted picador,
with six medallions of bull-fights; above the picador are two Cupids
holding a shield of arms, with thirteen other shields along the upper
border, bearing the arms of Biscaria, Cordova, Majorca, Valencia,
Arragonia, Leon, Castillia, Navarra, Toledo, Gallicia, Andalusia,
Murcia, and Catalonia. The shields, together with the medallions, are
bordered with embroidered spangles; the ivory stick and guards finely
pierced and inlaid with gold and silver.
The charming spangled fan in the possession of Mr. Talbot Hughes may
also be accepted as of undoubted Spanish workmanship. In this, the
leaf is of white silk, painted with a female figure in a garden,
arranging flowers from a basket. The head is an applied miniature on
ivory, a device much affected by the Chinese; the necklace, seed pearls
appliqué; the dress completely of spangles. The leaf is enriched with
a border of gold and silver sequins of various forms, some being set
with crystals. The stick ivory, coloured, gilt, and decorated _à la
paillette_. The date about 1800.
[Illustration: Spanish Fan, Bull Fights, c. 1780, silk mount spangled
ivory stick carved à jour, gold & silver incrustations.
Lady Northcliffe.]
It has been shown, beyond any possibility of doubt, that during the
seventeenth century French exportation of this dainty article to Spain
was considerable, French fans enjoying the best reputation in that
country, as well as in Italy, and that this pre-eminence was maintained
during the succeeding century, the period of the highest development of
the fan industry in France; but while it is difficult to associate
the native Spanish workmanship with fans of the highest calibre,
a preference for the richer French fans having always prevailed,
it is certain that the production of the cheaper fans was, and is,
considerable, Valencia being the chief centre of the industry. It is
equally certain that in no country in Europe is the employment of the
fan so general, or the toy so gracefully wielded, as in this land of
light, colour, and romance.
Théophile Gautier (_Tra los montes_) thus refers to the importance of
the fan in Spain: ‘The Fan corrects in some measure the pretension of
the Spaniards to Parisianism. A woman without a fan is a thing I have
never yet seen in that favoured land; I have seen women wearing satin
shoes without any stockings, but they had, nevertheless, their fans,
which follow them everywhere, even to church, where you meet groups
of all ages, kneeling or sitting, praying and fanning themselves with
equal fervour.’
‘We should remember,’ says Disraeli (_Contarini Fleming_), ‘that here
[Cadiz], as in the north, the fan is not confined to the delightful
sex. The cavalier also has his fan; and, that the habit may not be
considered an indication of effeminacy, learn that in this scorching
clime the soldier will not mount guard without this solace.’
In Spain, as in China and Japan, there is a fan for every occasion—for
the street, where paper ones are used, these affording more breeze on a
sultry day than do lace or silk; for feast days, bull-fights,[95] and
the theatre, silk or lace fans, mounted on sandalwood, bone, ivory,
or mother-of-pearl. A favourite material is silk, mounted on a carved
wooden frame which opens and shuts easily, a most essential thing in a
Spanish fan, which is perpetually in motion, portraying the feelings
and thoughts that are passing through the mind of its owner.
The fan is in the hands of every one, from the merest baby to the big
toreador, who employs it as a means of exciting the ire of his bovine
adversary. It serves as convenient screen for the dark-eyed beauty,
who, seated in the balcony in the still evening, listens eagerly to the
impassioned serenade beneath.
At the theatre, says Blondel, nothing is more curious than the
manipulation of these instruments, playing with the expressive grace
which is a silent flirtation. Before the play begins, or during the
intervals, every one talks in the midst of a confused noise resembling
the buzzing of an immense swarm of flies. The curtain rises—all resume
their places; the conversation ceases; the fans, everywhere waving in
varied movement, gradually, one by one, tone down into regularity of
time; they flutter in captivating cadence, suggesting in appearance
a crowd of variegated butterflies, and charming the ear with their
delightful ‘frou-frou.’
It is this play of the fan (_manejo del abanico_) in which fair dames
and demoiselles have become such adepts, that it has been necessary
to coin a word to express this charming art. Thus, ‘abanicar’ means
the play of the fan, while ‘ojear’ signifies the language of the eyes.
These two manœuvres, remarks M. Louis Énault shrewdly, are closely
allied, and one alone suffices for a man’s destruction.
The fan, indeed, has its own particular language, more eloquent than
that of flowers—the Spanish _novia_ (lady-love) communicates her
thoughts by code to her _novio_ (sweetheart), as—engaged couples in
Spain being never allowed alone—woman’s ready wit has devised this
means of private conversation.
[Illustration: Spanish Fan, silk mount spangled, the head an ivory
miniature. necklace of seed pearls. c. 1800.
Mr Talbot Hughes.]
[Illustration: Fête de l’Agriculture, 1798, silk mount, spangled.
Mr LCR. Messel.]
The instructions are set forth in fifty different directions in a
little booklet published in German by Frau Bartholomäus, from the
original Spanish of Fenella. A few examples will probably suffice as an
indication of the method:—
1. You have won my love. Place the shut fan near the
heart.
2. When may I be allowed to see you? The shut fan resting upon
the right eye.
3. At what hour? The number of the sticks of
the fan indicate the hour.
4. I long always to be near thee. Touch the unfolded fan in the act
of waving.
5. Do not be so imprudent. Threaten with the shut fan.
6. Why do you misunderstand me? Gaze pensively at the unfolded
fan.
7. You may kiss me. Press the half-opened fan
to the lips.
8. Forgive me, I pray you. Clasp the hands under the open
fan.
9. Do not betray our secret. Cover the left ear with the open
fan.
10. I promise to marry you. Shut the full-opened fan very
slowly.
And so on, through the whole gamut of the language of love.
A shorter code has been published in English (duly copyrighted) by
M. J. Duvelleroy. This, although the principle is the same, differs
materially in the details; thus, ‘I love you’ in Spanish is to hide
the eyes behind the opened fan; in English, to draw the fan across
the cheek. ‘I hate you,’ in the former instance, is to raise the shut
fan to the shoulder in the right hand; in the latter, to draw the fan
_through_ the hand: either code being sufficiently expressive and
acquired with tolerable ease.
CHAPTER VII
PAINTED FANS OF THE SEVENTEENTH AND EIGHTEENTH CENTURIES (FRENCH)
[Illustration: FAN OF RICE STRAW
(From a Fifteenth-Century MS. in the National Library, Paris.)]
The so-called Renaissance of the arts of France in the sixteenth
century was the outcome of an increased knowledge of, and familiarity
with, Italian ideals of life, and the splendours of a more refined
civilisation; it represented the assimilation of the national spirit,
the union of French ‘netteté d’exécution’ with the more sober learning
of Italian tradition. The beginnings of this Italian influence are
to be discovered earlier, in the visit of Jean Foucquet to Italy in
1440-1445; this event being the signal for a general migration of
Italian artists northward.
For the purposes of the fan, however, we are concerned only with the
history of French art from the period when, in 1530, at the invitation
of François I., Le Rosso and Primaticcio repaired to Paris for the
purpose of decorating the palace at Fontainebleau.
At this period architecture was creating Chenonceau and Chambord.
Sculpture, in the hands of Cellini and Jean Goujon, was providing the
decorative details for the château then being built by Philibert de
l’Orme for Diana de Poitiers.
In the sister art of Painting, Jean Cousin and François Clouet,
together with Primaticcio, who continued working until 1570, were the
dominant influences.
[Illustration: Pastorelle, style of Watteau, skin mount, stick mother
of pearl, finely pierced, carved, & embossed with a sacrificial scene
in gold. French. c. 1750.
Wyatt Coll^n. V. & A. Museum.]
Simon Vouet, recalled to Paris after a lengthy sojourn in Rome, was
painting the nobles of the French court, and decorating for Richelieu
the Palais Royal and the Château de Rueil. Poussin, French by birth,
Italian and classic in sympathy, found the artistic atmosphere of Rome
more congenial to him. In 1640, upon a pressing invitation from Louis
XIII., he migrated to Paris, but, on account of court intrigues, the
jealousies of his brother artists, and the malignity of Vouet, under
pretence of bringing his wife from Rome, he left Paris in 1642, never
to return.
The pupils of Vouet were Le Sueur and Charles le Brun. With this latter
artist French painting enters upon a new phase, and it is impossible
to overestimate the influence for good or for evil exercised by him
during the latter half of the seventeenth century; nay, it extended
practically over the whole of the century, since he began painting
almost from his infancy.
The work of Le Brun, in spite of its many affectations, possesses many
admirable qualities: such a composition, for example, as ‘The Entry of
Alexander into Babylon,’ now in the Louvre, which, by the way, appears
on an Italian fan in the Wyatt collection, at once stamps him as a
master of decorative arrangement, and is typical both of his qualities
and his limitations.
One of the most significant events in the history of French art was
the founding of the Academy in 1648: in this Le Brun naturally took a
leading part, as also in the foundation of the French School in Rome,
of which he was the first director. The establishment of the Academy
had a direct as well as an indirect bearing upon the fan, since on more
than one occasion it ‘used the power of its prestige in defence of the
just liberties of the éventaillistes.’[96]
Pierre Mignard (Le Romain), the lifelong rival of Le Brun, possessed
something of the grand manner, derived from his study of the Carracci
and Domenichino. In 1664 he was the head of the Academy of St. Luke,
and in 1690, upon the death of Le Brun, he was appointed Director of
the Academy of Painting, a post which he filled until his death in 1695.
We have said that during the sixteenth century, Italian influences on
French art were paramount—these influences being entirely healthy and
regenerative. Throughout the succeeding century the dominant influence
was still Italian, but its effect was as deleterious as it had been
formerly beneficent.
By 1700 the decorative arts were well on the downward path. Bernini
had been dead twenty years, but his influence, together with that of
Borromini, was still a living thing, and was still working irreparable
mischief. Sir M. Digby Wyatt, in a powerful article written for Owen
Jones’s _Grammar of Ornament_, referring to Borromini, says: ‘From his
fervid imagination and rare facility as a draughtsman and designer, he
soon obtained ample employment; and in his capricious vagaries, every
tendency to extravagance that Bernini’s style possessed Borromini
contrived to caricature. Until his death, in 1667, he continued
sedulously occupied in subverting all known principles of order and
symmetry, not only to his own enrichment, but to the admiration of
the leaders of the fashion of the day. The anomalies he introduced
into design, the disproportionate mouldings, broken, contrasted, and
re-entering curves, ... became the _mode_ of the day, and all Europe
was speedily busy in devising similar enormities. In France the fever
raged speedily, and the popular style, in place of the quaint but
picturesque forms to be seen in the engravings of Du Cerceau, 1576,
substituted the more elaborate but less agreeable ones to be found in
Marot, 1727, and Mariette, 1726-7.... Despite this debasing influence,’
continues our author, ‘many of the French artists of the time, both
of Louis XIV. and XV., in the midst of their extravagances, made many
beautiful ornamental designs, showing in them a sense of capricious
beauty of line rarely surpassed.’
[Illustration: La Danse, Louis XV, skin leaf, mother of pearl stick,
carved, painted, & gilt. 22” X 11-3/4”.
The Duchess of Portland.]
[Illustration: Pastorelle, Louis XV, skin leaf, tortoiseshell stick,
with gold incrustations 18-1/4” × 10”.
The Duchess of Portland.]
This, although written at the period of perhaps the very lowest ebb
of the decorative arts, the mid-Victorian era, pretty well sums up
the matter, and is a fair estimate of the decorative tendencies that
obtained at the beginning of the eighteenth century. The general
character of the fan, therefore, necessarily partook of this debasing
influence, and reflected the ornamental vulgarities and fashionable
inanities of the time. Thus we have, in moulded ornament, a profusion
of those extravagant shell-like cartouches which have become
identified with the periods of Louis XV. and XVI.; curly structures
elaborately perforated, beginning and ending at will, observing no
reasonable or well-defined law, but expressing only the caprice of
the artist. These either formed the starting-point for the lighter
ornaments, or were associated with naturalistic swags and festoons of
fruit and flowers, masks, ribbons, etc.
With the dawn of the eighteenth century, French _pictorial_ art enters
upon that era of _fêtes galantes_, _conversations galantes_, and
_amusements champêtres_, which, whatever its shortcomings, was purely
French and native to the soil. The pernicious influence of the Italian
decadence is about to be shaken off. Watteau was sixteen years old,
and just commencing those labours which resulted in the practical
regeneration of French painting. He may be said to dominate the art
of the eighteenth century as completely as Le Brun had overshadowed
the century which preceded. He sums up in himself that spirit of the
joyousness of life, that careless, impulsive frivolity which is the
note of the age.
His immediate followers, Lancret, Pater, and in some sense De Troy,
carried on the tradition, but with a more pronounced convention: the
shimmer and sheen of silk and satin draperies are painted according to
a recipe, the general treatment of the subjects reveals a less delicate
fancy, and a less tender sympathy.
Boucher, friend and servant of La Pompadour, ‘with her fan that breaks
through halberds,’[97] has been styled, with more or less semblance
to truth, the Anacreon of painters. His convention is of an entirely
different order to that of Watteau and his school; but if his method
and style is more artificial, it is because life and manners have
become less sincere, and because he is true to his belief that ‘Nature
wanted harmony and seduction’; he yields nothing to his predecessors
in artistic power, he is completely master of his technique, and
understands exactly the measure of his gifts. In his pupil Fragonard,
we have in reality the true heir and successor of Watteau—the same
supple touch, the same alluring grace, the same captivating invention
and suggestiveness which always summons us to an enchanted land of
love, and music, and dalliance.
It was an exceedingly gay, light-hearted, and pleasant time—in
painting at any rate. Strephon sat at the feet of Phyllis, warbling
soft nothings to the accompaniment of the lute. Dan Cupid, who was
everywhere in evidence, took it for granted that his presence was
always à propos, and never troubled his curly head as to whether his
decorative surroundings were in the nicest possible taste. The fan
necessarily reflected this eccentricity and extravagance—indeed it took
its natural place in the general decorative scheme; the ‘dainty rogues’
of the sideboard and mantel-shelf were in complete harmony with the
still more dainty rogues of the fan; the shepherdess in her flowered
skirt rubbed shoulders, or attempted to do so, with the fine lady in
crinoline.
[Illustration: Momens Musicals, ‘Vernis Martin.’
Mr Leopold de Rothschild.]
The fun waxed faster and more furious; the times grew madder and still
more mad; the exuberance of the rococo became more and more pronounced,
until no inanity remained untried, no extravagant banality overlooked.
Then came the inevitable reaction. The latter half of the century
witnessed the sowing of the seed, and, indeed, the full fruition, of
that neo-classicism, which, although a relief from the _barocco_ of
the preceding period, was the outcome of no settled conviction except
the desirability of entering any port in a storm; it had its origin in
the interest which was then being taken in archæology and classical
research.
With the Revolution came artistic chaos, and—the nineteenth century.
The cold, correct classicalities of the ‘style de l’Empire’ were due,
in great part, to the influence of the painter David, although the
inauguration of this new epoch was claimed by Vien. The work of David
and that of his immediate followers, Girodet, Gros, Gérard, and Ingres,
represented perhaps the natural antidote to the decorative debauch
which is here passed rapidly in review; its final overthrow was brought
about by that riot of academic tradition in which it subsequently
indulged, rather than by the labours of Delacroix and the school of
Romanticists which followed.
This, in the briefest possible terms, is an account of the general
and more obvious tendencies of French art during the two centuries we
have under consideration. How far, then, and to what extent may we
trace the direct handiwork of these artists upon the fan? What of the
authors of these dainty creations, that fluttered and shimmered like so
many butterflies through the summer sunshine—what do we know of their
personality?
Several references are made in this work to the similarity which
exists between the éventaillistes and the ceramists. The conditions of
production were precisely the same, the workers in the two arts were,
broadly speaking, of the same artistic calibre; indeed, it is on record
that, upon a shortage of painters at the royal factory of Sèvres, the
éventaillistes were called in to fill the breach. At the close of the
reign of Louis XV., says Paul Mantz, the most prominent éventaillistes
were Chevalier, Josse, Boguet, Hébert, Race, and Mme. Vérité. Amongst
the painters, almost in every instance obscure, were doubtless some
young artists who had still their position to make, and the signature
of Cahaigue is recorded with the date 1766. In the Louvre are two fan
leaves signed by Raymond La Farge, _c._ 1680. An ivory brisé fan, with
the subject of Blindman’s Buff, signed ‘Tiquet Fecit, 1720,’ appeared
in the Walker sale in 1882. Le Sieur Pichard, also, is mentioned in
an almanac of 1773, as being very well known as a fan painter; Mme.
Doré, at the same date, painted on silk and gauze: both the last-named
worked for the éventaillistes.—But the greater names, which have become
illustrious in the annals of French art, Watteau, Boucher, Fragonard;
is it possible to claim these also for the fan?—A fan bearing the
ineffably gracious touch of a Fragonard, what a possession! Lancret
painted a picture in the _form_ of a fan, representing two figures in a
wooded landscape. M. Paul Mantz, referring to the fan in the collection
of Dr. Poigey of Paris, decorated with light simple ornament and
medallion heads of a youth and two young girls, says: ‘The delicacy of
refined rose tint, the sureness of touch, the free manipulation of the
gouache, show a master-hand; of a certainty, if Boucher ever painted a
fan, it is this one.’
Balzac (_Cousin Pons_) refers to a ‘gem of a fan’ found at a
second-hand dealer’s, enclosed in a little box of West India wood,
_signed by Watteau_(?), and formerly the property of La Pompadour. The
old musician turns towards his cousin with a courtly bow, offers her
the fan of the favourite, saying: ‘It is time for that which has served
Vice to be in the hands of Virtue; a hundred years will be required
to work such a miracle. Be sure that no princess can have anything
comparable with this _chef d’œuvre_, for it is unhappily in human
nature to do more for a Pompadour than for a virtuous Queen.’
[Illustration: Pastorelle after Lancret, stick mother of pearl, richly
carved, pierced & gilt belonged to an Aunt of Queen Victoria, French.
c. 1750.
H. R. H. Princess Louise, Duchess of Argyll.]
We learn from Brantôme that Catherine de’ Medicis, who made her first
public entry into Paris as queen in 1549, introduced into the French
court the Italian feather-fans, in general use in Italy at that
period; these being made and sold by the perfumers who came in the
queen’s retinue. In a half-length engraved portrait in the British
Museum, the queen bears a plumed fan with an elaborately ornamented
handle garnished with pearls; in another portrait, a plumed fan with a
mirror in the centre. Brantôme records that, upon the untimely death of
the king, her husband, Catherine caused to be put round her device[98]
broken fans, with the feathers falling to pieces and the mirror
cracked;[99] this in token of having abandoned worldly frivolities. In
a small oval engraved portrait in the British Museum collection, this
broken fan motif is introduced as forming a diapered border; the fans
alternated with twisted cords and scythes.
It is not until the reign of Henry III., that we find the first
authentic evidence of the use of l’éventail plissé; fans were then much
in fashion, and, says Henri Estienne, ‘were held so much in esteem,
that, now the winter is come, the ladies cannot give them up, but
having used them in summer to cool themselves against the heat of the
sun, they make them serve in winter against the heat of the fire.’[100]
Pierre de l’Estoile, in his _Isle des Hermaphrodites_, 1588, gives us a
detailed account of the fan used by this effeminate monarch, evidently
some form of cockade, ‘expanding and folding merely by a turn of the
fingers.’ It was sufficiently large to be used also as a parasol, and
served therefore the double purpose of cooling the air, and preserving
the delicate complexion of the king.
The material was vellum, cut as delicately as possible, with lace
around of similar stuff.[101] ‘I could see in the other chambers,’
continues this author, ‘fans of the same material, or of taffetas,
with borders of gold and silver lace.’
This art of elaborate cutting, in vellum, paper, and other material,
was, as a matter of fact, a favourite pastime of the period; it is said
to have been indulged in by the king himself, and it may be taken that
this method of _découpé_, or _découpé_ in association with other forms
of ornamentation, was employed in a large number of the fans of this
epoch, both of the cockade and semicircular form.
Of this latter type, now beginning to be the vogue, the Actæon fan in
the Musée de Cluny is one of the earliest known examples. The leaf is
of parchment, cut in a series of slits through which the ten sticks,
shaped to an ornamental profile, are inserted. The vellum around the
sticks is painted to the shape of arrows; the spaces between are cut
away, to allow of the insertion of strips of mica, upon which are
painted devices representing Actæon, his hounds, a stag, a swan, etc.
The general character of the ornamentation is that of the earlier
French Renaissance; the date, _c._ 1580.
The fan industry in France had become of such importance under
Henry IV., that it was necessary to regulate it by statute; certain
concessions were therefore granted in December 1594 to the several
bodies of craftsmen engaged in the art of fan-making. These were
confirmed, and fresh regulations added, towards 1664.
On a petition presented to Louis XIV. in 1673 by the master fan-makers
to the number of sixty, they were constituted a corporate body by
the edict of March 23rd of that year, and their privileges further
strengthened by edicts of December 1676 and January and February 1678.
These ordained that the company should be ruled by four jurors, two of
whom were re-nominated every year in September in an assembly at which
every master could assist irrespectively. No one could be a master
without having served four years’ apprenticeship and having produced
a _chef-d’œuvre_. Nevertheless, the sons of a master were exempt
from the _chef-d’œuvre_ as well as the members who married the widows
or daughters of masters. The widows enjoyed the privileges of their
departed husbands so long as they remained single. They could not,
however, engage new apprentices. The entrance fee was fixed at four
hundred livres.
[Illustration: Photo by J. Leroy
Cut Vellum Fan with insertions of mica, painted with subjects of
Actæon, &.c. ivory stick, French, end of XVI. century.
Musée de Cluny.]
In 1753, the period of the highest development of the industry, there
were no less than one hundred and fifty master fan-makers in Paris,
and from a rare book (_Journal du Citoyen_), published at the Hague in
1754, we learn the prices usually obtained: Wooden fans (les éventails
de bois de palissandre), 6 to 18 livres a dozen; fans in gilt wood
(bois d’or), 9 to 36 livres a dozen; those partly of wood and partly of
ivory (les maistres brins en yvoire et la gorge en os), 24 to 72 livres
a dozen. Ivory fans, 48 to 60 livres a dozen; others more elaborate
sold for 30 or 40 pistoles apiece.
The fan-makers were united with the wood-polishers and lute-makers by
the edict of August 11th, 1776, as was also the painting, carving, and
varnishing relative to these crafts.
The proportions of the folded fan have varied considerably at different
periods, in obedience to the caprices of fashion, and this, together
with other features, is a general indication as to date. An attempt
is here made, by means of a series of diagrams, to formulate, from
well-authenticated examples, a system of development; but this can only
be accepted in a general way, since during most periods, and especially
during the eighteenth century, many exceptions to this rule might be
cited.
During the last half of the sixteenth century, doubtless, the general
proportion of the fan was that of a fourth of a circle. Alex. Fabri,
1593, gives the costume of the French ladies of his time and of older
date, and observes that these ladies held fans of a quarter circle
plissés. Vecellio, 1600, gives fans of a similar proportion. These
were both brisé and leaf; the fans of Ferrara, decorated with mica
insertion, were also of this shape. At this same period, fans were also
made of a slightly extended width, the Actæon fan of Cluny being an
example.
[Illustration: 1550]
[Illustration: 1550-1620]
[Illustration: 1620-1650]
[Illustration: 1660-1700]
[Illustration: 1680-1740]
[Illustration: 1720-1760]
[Illustration: 1780]
The width was gradually extended during the first half of the
seventeenth century, until, at the close of the reign of Louis XIII.,
it had attained almost a full semicircle, the engraved fans of Abraham
Bosse being authentic instances.
During the reign of the Grand Monarque the mount is deep, the shoulder,
as a consequence, low; the fan, after a slight reduction, again opening
out to a full semicircle. The blades, which in the first half of
the seventeenth century varied in France from four to eighteen, had
increased by the end of the century to twenty-four or twenty-six,
the number again falling to between eighteen to twenty-one by the
middle of the succeeding century. During the reign of Louis XV. the
width of the fan was lessened, being reduced to one-third of a circle,
the shoulder being raised about 1720, thus leaving less space for the
mount, the blades numbering eighteen to twenty-two.
[Illustration: Cephalus & Aurora, French.
Mrs Bischoffsheim.]
[Illustration: ‘Vernis Martin.’
Mrs F. R. Palmer.]
In the succeeding reign (Louis XVI.) the fan once again unfolded itself
to a full semicircle; the blades were either straight and narrow, the
incrustations of a correspondingly reticent character, or very broad,
showing no space between, the decorations extremely ornate; their
number in either instance varying from twelve to sixteen or eighteen.
The above scale of proportion is, however, by no means absolute; we
have fans with high shoulders, and correspondingly shallow mounts
during the period of Louis XIV.; we also have, during the same period,
fans which open out only to the third of a circle.
The _size_ of the folding-fan has also been subject to many variations.
From the period of its introduction it increased under Louis XIV.,
fluctuated to the middle of the eighteenth century, and gradually
lessened its proportions to the period of the Revolution and First
Empire.
In 1729 the Duc de Richelieu writes: ‘Small fans have quite gone out,
and the newest are bigger than ever. Ladies are now never without them,
summer or winter.’ From the _Mercure de France_, October 1730, we learn
that ‘Many fans are of a very considerable price and excessively large,
so that some little folks are not quite twice the height of their own
fans, a circumstance which ought to fill with a due sense of respect
the light and playful cavaliers.’ This continued during the hoop period
or second blossoming of the whalebone petticoat, when the fan, not to
be outdone, assumed similar vast proportions, and again dwindled to
such an extent that it acquired the name of ‘imperceptible.’
Another important consideration in determining the date of a fan is in
the fact that the sticks, being of a more enduring substance than the
mount, have often been remounted with paintings of a later date;[102]
the careful collector will, therefore, in selecting a specimen,
consider the fan in all its various characteristics—the style of the
painting, and the general character of its ornamentation.
Mr. S. Redgrave, in his catalogue of the fans exhibited at South
Kensington in 1870, refers to the difficulty in assigning fans to the
country to which their manufacture might be most correctly attributed:
‘Workmen of one country have been tempted to another; Chinese carvers
brought to Europe; parts of fans in which a particular country has
excelled have been imported to another, and used with its native
manufacture. In all cases, novel taste, approved by fashion, has never
failed to become the object of universal imitation.’
The art of painting during the reign of Louis XIII. began to play a
more important part in the decoration of fans; the subject, in the few
examples existing of this epoch, being usually enclosed in a florid
cartouche with festoons of fruit, flowers, amorini, etc., as in the
three engraved examples by Abraham Bosse, who was working in Paris at
this period. Indeed it is extremely probable that the publication of
these fans strongly influenced the character of the decoration of fan
mounts; it is more than possible that Bosse himself painted fans, since
he was painter as well as engraver, although his pictures are extremely
rare. The label, ‘Éventails de Bosse,’ appearing on the box handed by
the merchant to the lady in the engraving ‘La Galerie du Palais,’ may
quite conceivably refer to painted as well as engraved fans.
[Illustration: Pastorelle, with two portrait medallions, mount paper,
stick mother of pearl, finely carved with medallions &c. gilt. French.
c. 1780.
Wyatt Coll^n. V. & A. Museum.]
La Galerie du Palais, besides forming the subject of Bosse’s engraving,
supplied Corneille with the _motif_ of one of his comedies produced in
1634. ‘La Galerie’ was situated in the midst of the city, beside the
Palais de Justice, between the two branches of the Seine, and had
become, at the close of the reign of Henry IV., a ‘lively and animated
centre.’
In the latter years of the reign of Louis XIII. it was, as we learn
from the explanatory verses at the foot of Bosse’s engraving, as also
from Corneille’s comedy, a place of rendezvous for, and assignations
with, the beau-monde.
‘Icy faisant semblant d’acheter devant tous
Des gands, des Éventails, du ruban, des danteles;
Les adroits Courtisans se donnent rendez-vous,
Et pour se faire aimer, gallantisent les Belles.’
It was furnished with wooden shops in which were arranged _objets de
luxe_, new fashions, _chefs-d’œuvres_ of industry, laces, and jewellery.
The engraving shows a mercer’s shop with a cavalier and lady examining
fans, these objects being also exposed to view in the window. We have
here a genuine bit of old Paris of the time of Louis XIII., and thus
obtain a clear idea of what the Paris fan shops were like at this epoch.
Fans had, indeed, at this period obtained a firm hold upon the
affections of the fair, though not so firm as to preclude the
possibility of a powerful rival. The witty author of the lines appended
to Bosse’s engraving of Summer, in the circular composition of the four
seasons, a lady with a fan, accompanied by a Cupid bearing a parasol,
suggests that the love-god himself would be a better substitute for the
fan, not only for cooling the heated cheek, but also to assuage the
fire that burns within.
‘Qu’n éventail dans la chaleur
Semble oster de cette couleur
Dont vôtre teint rougit encore;
Vous ressemblez presque a l’aurore
A cause de cette rougeur
Mais dans cette simple douleur
Qui semble afliger vôtre cœur
Est-ce tout ce qui vous honore
Qu’n éventail?
Changez viste vôtre maleur
Et sans me crére caioleur
Aimable Phylis que j’adore
Croiez, qu’au feu qui vous deuore
Un hom̃e vous servit meilleur
Qu’n éventail.’
Authenticated examples of Louis XIII. fans are exceedingly rare. In
the Jubinal collection at Paris is a superb fan painted on skin,
representing the king playing blind-man’s buff with the four quarters
of the globe. This is designed upon the same principle as the three
engraved fans of Bosse above referred to, _i.e._ the subject enclosed
in a large and elaborate cartouche, filling the whole field of the fan,
a system of decoration which lasted well into the reign of Louis XIV.
The Countess de Beaussier exhibited at South Kensington, in 1870, a
mount of vellum painted with a large medallion or cartouche in the
centre, of lords and ladies of the court of France joining in a dance
in a park, the border enriched with coloured ornament in the style of
the period.
During the earlier part of the reign of Louis XIII., Anne of Austria,
his queen, introduced many Spanish fashions into France, amongst them
being fans.
It is recorded of this princess that, during a conference with
Richelieu, some kittens amused themselves with the ribbons of her
fan which had been left on a table in the antechamber; from this
circumstance the ribbons acquired the name of Badins (playful).[103]
It was from a similar light incident that, later, at the time of the
unpopularity of Mazarin, the fan became a means of expressing political
intrigue. Straw was adopted as the rallying sign of the Frondeurs, who,
after the victory in Paris, wore it in their hats and button-holes.
[Illustration: Hector & Andromache, after Coypel, French, gouache on
skin stick ivory finely carved with an eastern subject, guards set with
plaques of agate, & paste jewels; a watch at rivet.
The Dowager Marchioness of Bristol.]
‘If without straw a man was seen,
Strike him down! was the general scream,
For ‘tis but a dog of a Mazarine.’
A great crowd was applauding the king and princess in the great allée,
and crying out against Mazarin. Mademoiselle had appeared holding a fan
as she walked, to which was attached a bouquet of straw bound with blue
ribbon.
Straw also formed part of the decoration of fans, both at this period
and later. The pattern of leaves, flowers, fruits, or conventional
ornament, was cut in various coloured straws and _applied_. The
handsome fan in the possession of Lady Bristol, with the subject of
Hector and Andromache, after Antoine Coypel, belonging, however, to
a later period, is decorated at the sides with coloured straw-work.
This material was even employed in the decoration of the stick in the
form of inlay upon ivory and other substance; an example occurs in the
collection of Mr. L. C. R. Messel. This also of a much later period.
D’Alembert, in his _Réflexions et Anecdotes sur la Reine de Suède_,
recounts how the irascible, fierce, and railing daughter of Gustavus
Adolphus found herself at the court of Louis XIV., when the fashion
of fans was general (1656-1657). Consulted by a fair Frenchwoman as
to whether she should ply her fan even during the winds of winter,
Christina replied that the lady might fan herself or not, as she
pleased; either way she would be a straw blown about by the wind.
Upon this, the court dames, nettled at the rude reply of the haughty
mistress of Monaldeschi, one and all armed themselves with fans,
and waved them furiously whenever the queen was present, by way of
exhibiting a wholesome French contempt for northern barbarism.[104]
This circumstance led to the adoption of fans of a richer and more
ornate description. Fashion hastened to make the toy worthy of figuring
in grand adornment; the ordinary wood of the stick was replaced by
other supports of a more precious material, with incrustations of gold,
silver, enamel, and jewels. More capable artists were employed for the
execution of the mounts; the éventaillistes learnt from the Italians
to derive their inspiration from the great masters of their school.
The decoration of the fan-leaves, therefore, acquired something of the
suavity, graciousness, and courtliness associated with the work of the
painters of the Grand Siècle.
It was, doubtless, some such fan, some enchanting reminiscence of the
dainty ‘putti’ of Poussin, that Madame de Sévigné sent to her daughter,
Madame de Grignan.—‘The Chevalier de Buous brings you a fan, which I
think very pretty: they are not little loves upon it, for without doubt
they are little chimney-sweeps, the most charming little sweeps in the
world.’[105]
Two fans are known of the beginning of the reign of the Grand Monarque.
One, of which only the feuille is preserved, is in the possession
of Mr. J. G. Rosenberg, of Karlsruhe, the other in the Schreiber
collection, British Museum. The former is painted in gouache on swan
skin, and represents the signing of the marriage contract between Louis
XIV. and Maria Theresa, which event took place at St. Jean de Luz on
the Spanish frontier in 1660. The king and queen are seated before a
table in the centre, the courtiers standing in a semicircle, the men
in their fur-trimmed robes, the ladies all bearing fans; an official
in the foreground is reading aloud the marriage contract. The pattern
of the carpet is seized upon as a decorative _motif_, and forms a
diapered groundwork to the composition after the manner of the earlier
miniaturists. This truly magnificent mount betrays no evidence of the
Italian influence; no suggestion of ‘le premier peintre du Roi,’[106]
but entirely reminiscent of the great traditional French style. It
is, moreover, an original production, rather than, as is the case of
so many fan leaves, a mere transcription of the work of the greater
artists.
[Illustration: Battoir Fan, leaf paper, painted with medallions
referring to the marriage of the Dauphin with Maria Theresa of Spain,
stick & guards ivory finely carved & gilt, bearing the fleurs-de-lys of
France & arms of Navarre. 18-1/2 × 9-1/2.
The Dowager Marchioness of Bristol.]
In the Schreiber fan leaf, the king and queen are seated under
a canopy, a Cupid above bearing a rose garland and palm branch.
The ladies of the court, all holding fans, are seated around in a
semicircle, and on the right Cupids prepare the nuptial couch. This
leaf, which has been much repainted, is in gouache on paper, with
gilding in places; it has been removed from the mount and pasted on an
oak panel.
On a later fan, the king is represented as Phœbus descending from his
chariot, holding in his hand the mirror of truth to the assembled court
beauties, on whose countenances fear, alarm, and doubt appear. A figure
on the right (Louise de la Vallière) opens her arms eagerly to receive
him.
The king also appears as Endymion sleeping on Mount Latmos. La
Vallière, in the character of Diana, is alighting from her chariot
and contemplating the beautiful shepherd. A figure of Spring scatters
flowers. In the background two attendants of the goddess; _c._ 1660.
Mr. Robert Walker in his sale catalogue (1882) suggests that these two
fans, the sticks of which have perished and have been replaced by those
of old English workmanship, were painted for the Duchess de la Vallière
in the early time of her attendance at the court of Anne of Austria.
She is said to have formed a real and virtuous attachment to the king.
A fan mount in the Schreiber collection, also belonging to the earlier
years of the reign of Louis XIV., has for its subject the ‘Lovers’
Agency Bureau.’ In the midst of a semicircular temple, on an island
surrounded by a flowered border, is a golden statue of Cupid seated
upon a globe, bearing a banner inscribed, ‘L’Amour Avec ces traits Veut
blesser tout Le monde. Je Reigne dans les sieux Sur la terre et Sur
londe.’ Cupids are seated at a table covered with green cloth, serving
amorous couples with tablets inscribed, ‘Congé Pour Un Amant Constant:
Congé Pour Un Fidelle’; ‘Congé pour La Belle Iris.’ In front of the
table a Cupid is seated on a large crimson cushion, holding a scroll
inscribed, ‘Le Directeur Du Bureau D’amour.’ Two figures are kneeling
at the end of the table, the one holding a purse, the other a scroll
inscribed, ‘Contract De Constitution De Rente.’ In the foreground on
either side are couples who have married for money—a young man holding
a purse is accompanied by an elderly woman, and an old man who supports
himself on a crutch, accompanied by a young woman, is carrying a box
labelled ‘Bijouteri’; in both instances a Cupid follows them with a
rod for punishment. Around the island are moored ships with banners
inscribed, ‘Vous qui cherchez D’un Amoureux Desir,’ etc.
The fan leaf has been pasted on an oval panel and repainted to complete
the shape.
The fine varnish, celebrated in the verse of Voltaire,[107] which has
become associated with the name of Martin, was not, properly speaking,
a new invention, but rather a fresh application of an old method.
Attempts had been made during the reign of Louis XIV. to imitate the
lacquers of Japan, and the process was first applied to furniture. In
an inventory of the effects of Molière we read of a ‘small cabinet with
Chinese varnish,’ and of ‘two dice-boxes of wood, varnished after the
Chinese fashion.’ This was the period when the artistic products of
the East were so much exercising the minds of European craftsmen, as a
consequence of the opening up of China and Japan to western traders.
The four brothers Martin, William, Simon-Étienne, Julien, and Robert,
coach-painters, sons of a tailor of the Faubourg Saint-Antoine, in
applying themselves to the task of imitating the processes of Oriental
lacquer, by a fortunate accident developed a method admirably suited
to the decoration of fans, which, in spite of many attempts to imitate,
has never since been rivalled.
[Illustration: Fête Champêtre, ‘Vernis Martin’ c.1730.
Wyatt Coll^n., V. & A. Museum.]
Two concessions were obtained—those of November 27, 1730, and February
18, 1744, permitting the elder Martin, for the space of twenty years,
to execute all sorts of works in relief after the manner of the Chinese
and Japanese.
An advertisement in _Le Mercure_, which appeared during the year 1724,
recommends to the curious the fine productions in Chinese and Japanese
varnish, of this ‘excellent and unique craftsman who imitates and often
surpasses his models.’[108] In 1732 a fresh announcement is made in
the same journal to the effect that ‘Le Sieur Martin the elder, who
may be said to have considerably enriched the beaux-arts in Europe by
imitating and even surpassing in many respects the beautiful varnishes
and reliefs of China and Japan, gives notice to the public that he
undertakes panels, friezes, ceilings, carriages, etc., in splendid
varnishings.’
This varnish, with its brilliant translucency, and its remarkable
immunity from cracking, was applied over painting done in the
ordinary oil method, the painting being necessarily thin, almost to
transparency, the material of the fan usually ivory. The decoration
consists of either a single subject covering the whole field of the
fan, or a system of one, three, or many cartouches, occasionally as
many as twenty miniatures, enclosed in an ornamental setting, made up
of a curious mixture of Chinese diapered patterns, semi-naturalistic
semi-Persian ornament, Italian arabesques, and French ornament of the
character with which we are familiar in Rouen ware.
The guards are in most instances decorated with miniatures, usually
two superior and two inferior, divided by ornamental borders or
arabesques. On the handle end of the fan, _i.e._ the smaller
semicircle, are either one, three, or more miniatures, often imitation
Chinese subjects: these, in some instances, are in self-colour, as
pink, red, or blue. The gilding is both in leaf and painted, usually
worked over with a pattern in red or brown.
The figure-painting is in no instance by a master-hand, _i.e._ by an
artist of the first calibre, but by skilled workmen, or artificers,
deriving their inspiration from outside sources.
The subjects with which these fans were decorated embrace every class.
Thus we have representations of ancient history, both sacred and
profane, subjects which recorded important current events, subjects
fanciful of almost every description.
That of the ‘Rape of Helen’ occurs often; the fine fan in the
possession of Mr. J. G. Rosenberg of Karlsruhe has this subject for its
principal medallion, the style recalling Le Brun, with sixteen smaller
subjects from classic mythology, these divided by a gold band. Also
in the beautiful example in the possession of Lady Lindsay this same
subject is treated, though in a very different manner. (Illustrated
facing p. 30.)
In the cabinet of Madame Riant is the ‘Judgment of Paris,’ the subject
_en cartouche_, with smaller cartouches in the Chinese taste.
Probably one of the earliest of these ‘Vernis Martin’ fans (ivory
brisé fans had been painted earlier, during the latter part of the
seventeenth century) is the bridal-fan of the Duchess of Burgundy,
Adelaide of Savoy, mother of Louis XV. The subject represents the fêtes
at Versailles on the occasion of the marriage of the grandson of Louis
XIV. in 1709. On the obverse the bride appears seated upon a dais with
attendants bearing floral offerings. In the centre the king dances a
minuet with Madame de Maintenon, ‘ma tante,’ as the dauphin endearingly
called her. Other dancing figures, musicians, etc., complete the
composition, which is enclosed in a large cartouche of fruits,
masks, instruments, etc.; on the field of the fan are representations
of country life.
[Illustration: The Rape of Helen, ‘Vernis Martin’, c. 1745.
Lady Northcliffe.]
On the lower semicircle, _en cartouche_, the bride again appears
playing a guitar, the remaining space being occupied by subjects of a
Chinese character. On the reverse we have a representation of the fêtes
in the palace gardens, with scenes from the life of the prince—as pupil
of Fénelon, and as lover; miniatures of the prince and princess appear
on the panaches. This important fan has been attributed to the pencil
of Watteau, but with small grounds, being quite unlike the character of
Watteau’s work except in the type of some of the figures represented.
The example which formed part of the royal collection at Windsor Castle
is so well known that it scarcely needs description here. It consists
of a large number of cartouches of classical and pastoral subjects
divided by gold borderings. It formerly belonged to Marie-Antoinette,
and was procured for Her Majesty Queen Victoria by the Queen of the
Belgians.
The fan representing the ‘Toilette of Madame la Marquise de Montespan,’
and ‘the Promenade,’ in the possession of the Countess Duchâtel, has
become historic. It was sent by Madame de Sévigné to her daughter,
Madame de Grignan, and is thus referred to in her 149th letter: ‘My fan
has then become most useful, doubtless. Do you not think it beautiful?
Alas, what a bagatelle! You would not take away from me this small
pleasure when occasion presents itself—you would thank me for that
pleasure, although it is a mere nothing.’
We are enabled, by the courtesy of Mr. Leopold de Rothschild, to
illustrate (facing p. 142) one of the best-preserved examples of
this interesting type of fan. The subject represents a company of
musicians in a garden, with trellised background and fountain; on the
lower cartouche a classical landscape; on the panaches are figures of
Harlequin, Pierrot, etc., the ornamental portions being painted with
the most minute finish.
Upon the death of the elder Martin in 1749, his widow associated
herself with her brother-in-law, Julien Martin, who was acquainted with
the secrets of this varnish and method. The studio at the entrance to
the Faubourg Saint-Denis, therefore, did not cease to prosper, and
production went on until 1758. This at least we learn of the engraver
Pasquier, and it seems to us that the most successful varnishes
are the earliest in date—those which appear to have been produced
1720-1745.[109]
The foregoing quotation refers to Martin’s productions generally, but
is equally applicable to the fan, and it is probable that although a
few isolated examples of these delicate objects may have been produced
during the latter years of the reign of Louis XIV., production did not
become very general until later in the lifetime of Martin the elder,
who subsequently received the title of ‘Vernisseur du roi.’
The question as to whether the brothers Martin themselves painted their
fans, or to what extent they were indebted to outside assistance, opens
up an interesting field of inquiry. The order of their production,
also, presents considerable difficulties. In some cases, as that of
the bridal-fan of the Duke of Burgundy, the event itself determines
the date; in the majority of instances, however, the subject affords
no clue, and any conclusions formed are necessarily more or less
speculative and problematical. The natural order of decorative
development is from simplicity to complexity in both arrangement and
detail; it is therefore reasonable to assume that the earlier examples
are those displaying a certain severity and reticence of style and
method, and a simple arrangement of either one or but few subjects, and
that the later fans are those exhibiting a profusion of medallions of
various sizes, divided by gold bands. The variety in the style, manner,
and handling, of the subjects depicted on these fans, to say nothing
of the number extant, of itself disposes of the theory that they were
all the work of the brothers, but in any case they must be credited
with the original conception of a style and method of decoration
which, although it will scarcely bear searching analysis if judged from
the standpoint of strict decorative principles, is fresh, piquant, and
unique.
[Illustration: Belshazzar’s Feast, ‘Vernis Martin.’
Metropolitan Museum, New York.]
To return to pleated fans. In the Franks collection appeared an example
with the leaf of paper finely painted in gouache, with the betrothal of
Louis XV. with Marie Leczinska, and on the reverse a pastoral scene.
The brins and panaches are of white pearl, richly ornamented with
carved medallions of figures, portraits, heraldry, and scroll-work in
different coloured gold foils. This fan belonged to Marie, queen of
Louis XV.
The bridal-fan of Marie Leczinska has a skin mount, the subject
representing the king and his bride elect, attended by Cardinal Fleury
in lay habit, bringing offerings of flowers to the altar of Hymen; a
dog (emblem of fidelity) sits beside the king. In the foreground on
either side are groups in rural character; on the reverse, which is
of paper, is a pastorelle in which the royal couple again appear. The
brins and panaches are of mother-of-pearl, richly carved with a centre
medallion representing the queen as Venus descending from her chariot,
receiving the homage of Mars. Cupids, heraldic devices, fleurs de lys,
and a small medallion of Louis XIV. complete the design, which is
enriched with variegated gilding.
The symbolical marriage of Louis XV. with Marie Leczinska on Mount
Olympus is depicted on a fine mount of vellum in the possession of M.
Voisin, with portraits of the king and princess surrounded by Genii;
figures of Jupiter, Juno, and Apollo _en cartouche_, musicians, etc.,
in rose camaïeu, surrounded by the arms of France and Poland; the
reverse, a figure subject in blue camaïeu on silver ground. Stick,
‘Vernis Martin’ on ivory; guards, incrustations of mother-of-pearl.
The fan in the collection of the Dowager-Marchioness of Bristol
refers to the improvements made in Paris during the reign of Louis
XV.; it shows in the distance the fine square (Place de Louis XV.)
which adjoined the Palace of the Tuileries, with the bronze equestrian
statue of the king on a pedestal supported by four statues representing
Strength, Peace, Prudence, and Justice. The group, destroyed during the
Revolution, gave occasion to the following epigram:
‘O la belle Statue! O le beau piédestal!
Les vertus sont à pied, le vice est à cheval!’
The king, attended by Minerva, who holds her ægis over his head, is
giving directions as to the building to a kneeling figure whose cloak
and shield are ornamented with the fleurs de lys of France. A seated
winged genius is holding a large open book, Cupids are playing musical
instruments and supporting a trophy of arms and a medallion portrait of
Louis XIV. The square will remain for ever memorable as the scene of
the execution of Louis XVI. It was renamed Place de la Révolution.
The stick is of ivory, carved with allegorical subjects, variegated
gold enrichments, the imbricated ornament painted blue, the guards
inlaid with mother-of-pearl; on the reverse a tent, with soldiers
drinking and smoking at a table. Jewelled pin.
Of the fans referring to the courtship and marriage of the dauphin (son
of Louis XV.) we have the royal courtships in two medallions on either
side of the sun in full splendour (emblem of the king), decorated with
spangles; the mount of skin, the stick ivory, carved in open work with
appropriate figures.
In the centre cartouche of another fan, similar in treatment and
evidently by the same hand, the dauphin and dauphine bring floral
offerings to Hymen, the field of the fan being occupied by two smaller
medallions of Cupids, miniatures of the royal pair, and marriage
emblems at intervals, the cartouches connected by spangles; the stick
ivory, carved in open work with figures emblematic of the marriage.
[Illustration: Building of the Place Louis XV.
The Dowager Marchioness of Bristol.]
[Illustration: Dido & Æneas, Louis XV, gouache on skin, stick mother of
pearl carved à jour, painted & gilt, 22-1/2 x 11-1/2.
Mrs Bischoffsheim.]
[Illustration: Dido & Æneas. (reverse)
Mrs Bischoffsheim.]
The marriage of the dauphin with Maria Theresa of Spain (1745), or his
second wife, Princess Maria Josephe de Saxe, is recorded on a
magnificent mount representing the interior of a chapel, with the bride
and bridegroom on a raised dais, a cardinal performing the ceremony.
These three fans appeared in the Walker sale of 1882.
The Battoir fan (illustrated facing p. 154) would appear to refer to
this Spanish marriage; it is certainly a marriage fan. The feuille
of paper is decorated with eight variously shaped medallions. In the
centre the bride, who bears a sufficient resemblance to the engraved
portraits of Maria Theresa, is taking tea; also a heart-shaped
composition with two figures kneeling at the altar of Love, Father
Time in the distance; a lover offering a bouquet to a lady, etc. The
admirably designed stick and guards are of ivory, carved and gilt,
decorated with emblematic figures, amorini, trophies of musical
instruments, etc., bearing the fleurs de lys of France and the arms of
Spain.
The magnificent fan in the possession of Mrs. Bischoffsheim reflects
the general interest taken in the classics during the earlier part of
the eighteenth century. Dryden’s English translation of Virgil was
given to the world in 1697, and the Latin edition of P. Masvicius,
Leovardiae, 1717, contained the commentaries of Servius, Philargyrius,
and Pierius. The fan belongs to the earlier years of the reign of
Louis XV., and illustrates the story unfolded in the first book of the
_Æneid_. On the reverse the storm raised by Æolus at the bidding of
Juno, a rock in the foreground being inscribed ‘Naufrage d’Énée’: and
the meeting of Venus and Æneas. On the obverse the banquet:
‘Embroidered coverlets
Are laid, and gorgeous purple; and the boards
Groan with the massive silver.’
The love-god, in the guise of the boy Ascanius, is presented to Dido:
He—after he has clasped Æneas’ neck
In fond embrace, and so has satisfied
The doating love of his pretended sire—
Turns to the Queen. Her eyes and all her soul
She fixes on him; yea, and in her lap
At times she fondles him—unhappy Dido—
Not knowing how great a god is nestling there!’[110]
The so-called ‘Cabriolet’ fan, introduced during the reign of Louis
XV., represents a new and interesting development. In this the mount
is divided into two parts, superior and inferior, the latter being
half-way up the stick, the former in its usual place at the top; the
intervening space imparting a lightness and richness to the fan not
obtainable by other means, the mount still affording a sufficiency of
space for decoration on a less extended scale. This usually consists of
Parisian scenes—persons driving in cabriolets, or promenading, either
painted or engraved as the case may be, since both processes were
adopted.
The cabriolet, introduced by Josiah Child in 1755, was a light
two-wheeled carriage which obtained great popularity in Paris. Horace
Walpole, writing to his friend Mann in the same year, says:
‘All we hear from France is, that a new madcap reigns there,
as strong as that of Pantins was.[111] This is _la fureur de
cabriolets_, Anglicè one-horse chairs, a mode introduced by Mr.
Child. Everything is to be _en cabriolet_; the men paint them
on their waistcoats, have them embroidered for clocks to their
stockings, and the women, who have gone all the winter without
anything on their heads, are now muffled up in great caps, with round
sides, in the form of, and scarce less than, the wheels of chaises.’
Two varieties of these rare fans appear in different collections; a
larger and richer fan measuring some twenty inches and opening out to a
little more than a third of a circle, the sticks numbering twenty-one,
including the panaches; another about an inch smaller, with less
carving on the sticks, and made at a later date.
[Illustration: ‘Cabriolet’ Fan, stick ivory, painted, leaf paper.
Lady Northcliffe.]
[Illustration: ‘Cabriolet’ Fan, stick ivory, finely carved, painted &
gilt.
The Dowager Marchioness of Bristol.]
[Illustration: ‘Cabriolet’ Fan, stick ivory, carved and painted.
The Dowager Marchioness of Bristol.]
The fine example illustrated from the collection of Lady Bristol has
nine cabriolets, two on the larger and three on the smaller paper
mounts, two on the brins, and two on the panaches. The upper portion of
the ivory stick is carved with three series of three figures enclosed
in an ornamental setting, and one on each panache, with ‘goldfish’
inlay. The lower portion has two large cartouches of figure subjects
also with ‘goldfish’ inlay, and a smaller one painted, the whole of the
stick elaborately painted and gilt. A similar fan is in the possession
of the Comtesse de Chambrun, Paris, and was exhibited at South
Kensington in 1870.
Two examples of the smaller variety are given from the collections of
Lady Northcliffe and Lady Bristol, similar in general character, but
presenting slight differences in detail. On each of these fans only
one cabriolet appears, painted decoration taking the place of the rich
carving and gilding on the stick of the larger fan.
Towards the end of the reign of Louis XV. the fan industry suffered a
temporary relapse: the fashion for the cheaper printed fans, and also
for the importations from the East, spread even to the aristocrats. We
read of a fashionable jeweller at this period undertaking to supply to
La Pompadour a dozen fans direct from Nankin for the insignificant sum
of seventy-two livres. An interesting design for a fan in the Hennin
collection (Bibliothèque Nationale) is probably intended as an effort
to revive interest in the more expensive fans,[112] and is inscribed,
‘Combat du terrible torreau représenté par des enfants en présence
de Sa Majesté Louis XV., roi de France et de Navarre.’ This was a
spectacle devised for the king’s amusement in 1760. In an enclosure, a
bull-fight, in which the actors are children, is taking place before
a large concourse of spectators, including the king and queen; on the
left are trumpeters and other figures, on the right is a figure holding
three hounds in leash.
La Pompadour is glorified on a skin mount in the collection of Mrs.
Bruce Johnston; the subject being ‘hommages’ offered by Church, State,
Literature, Art and Music at the altar of madame, who appears as Venus
seated on a raised throne in the centre of the composition, her car and
doves in the background. A Cupid strikes at her bosom with his arrow,
others dance to the music of a mandoline, while another, crowned with a
laurel wreath, rides on the back of the French Eagle. This was probably
painted by one of the numerous artists employed by madame, and never
mounted. (Illustrated facing p. 6.)
The story of Rinaldo and Armida supplied the subject of many fans
produced during the century. Handel’s opera _Rinaldo_ was first
produced in London, February 24, 1711. It was staged in the most
sumptuous manner, the gardens of Armida being filled with live birds,
a piece of stage realism hardly to be surpassed even in these days: it
had, however, little vogue on the Continent. Gluck’s _Armide_, which
appeared in 1777, fared better, the composer being then in the height
of his popularity, and, moreover, under the powerful protection of his
former pupil, Marie-Antoinette, who, upon the success of _Orphée_,
granted him a pension of six thousand francs, and a like sum for every
fresh work he should produce on the French stage.
The charming fan, here illustrated, by the gracious permission of
H.R.H. the Princess of Wales, is anterior to the date of the production
of Gluck’s opera, and is one of the best of the numerous versions of
the subject. It was given by King William IV. to Augusta, Duchess
of Cambridge, and left by her to her grand-daughter, Victoria Mary,
Princess of Wales. (Frontispiece.)
In Miss Moss’s fan, also illustrated, the stick is of ivory carved _à
jour_, and painted with a cartouche in the centre, of Neptune, Venus,
and Cupid.
[Illustration: Wedding Fan, silk leaf, painted with medallions,
spangled ornaments. Ivory stick richly carved, with subject of the
Alter of Hymen &c.
The Countess of Bradford.]
[Illustration: Wedding Fan, satin mount, painted with medallions,
spangled, ivory stick, finely carved with marriage emblems &c., ivory
miniatures on guards, French, c. 1780.
Lady Lindsay.]
The fêtes given on the occasion of the marriage of the young dauphin,
afterwards Louis XVI., with Marie-Antoinette, are recorded on
a fan in the Wyatt collection, in the centre of which are shown the
illuminations with fireworks, a scroll inscribed, ‘Vive la France,
l’empire, et tous leurs alliés à jamais’; above is inscribed, ‘Feu
d’artifice de Mr. L’ambassadeur Exécuté le 10 Juin 1770 par le Sr.
Torre Artificier du Roi.’ On the left is a street scene with a band
of musicians and spectators; on the right, four figures viewing the
illuminations. A cartouche on the right is inscribed, ‘Fêtes Publiques
à l’occasion du mariage de Mr. le Dauphin.’ The mount is of paper, the
stick and guards ivory, pierced gilt, and inlaid with mother-of-pearl.
(Illustrated facing p. 180.)
An allegory of this marriage appears as the subject of a fan that
formed part of an important collection of a deceased Parisian lady,
Madame X., sold at the Hôtel Drouot, April 1897. In this the stick is
mother-of-pearl, carved with reliefs, gilt, and the arms of France and
Austria. The leaf is in gouache on skin, with medallions of the royal
pair, alternated with others emblematic of the Fine Arts.
Another bridal-fan of Marie-Antoinette has on the obverse an
allegorical composition, in which the dauphine, enthroned upon a cloud,
is about to sign the marriage contract which Cupid lays before her,
while Hymen hovers above: on the left, the Graces weave garlands of
roses; on the right, Midas and Discordia are banished to the regions of
obscurity.
On the reverse, Louis and his young bride appear walking in a wood,
guided by Cupid, blind, and bearing a torch. Both these subjects have
been attributed to Fragonard; they are, however, most certainly by two
different hands. The stick is mother-of-pearl, carved _à jour_, with
figures of the royal couple, cupids, and other appropriate emblems.
The custom of presenting fans on the occasion of a wedding was
universal, and surely no more acceptable offering than a fan could
be made to a bride. The fine fan, illustrated by the kindness of the
Countess of Bradford, is typical of a whole class of fans produced
during the latter years of the reign of Louis XVI., having silk
mounts, with painted medallions, usually one superior, and the other
inferior; the borders and intervening spaces decorated with spangles of
gold, silver, and colours; the sticks either broad and ornate as in the
example given, or narrow; the ornamentation being of a more reticent
character.
The principal medallion figures the prospective bride and bridegroom
nursing a figure of Love. On the extremely ornate mother-of-pearl
stick, lavishly gilt in dead and burnished gold of two colours, the
happy pair again appear clasping hands before the altar of Hymen, with
an accompaniment of Cupids; on the two inferior cartouches are dancing
figures with wreaths, spangling being applied here as on the leaf. The
fan appeared at the recent exhibition of Fair Women at the Grafton
Galleries, where it attracted much attention.
On the occasion of the birth of the dauphin, (Louis XVII.) in 1785,
eleven years after the marriage, the royal pair renew their vows at the
altar of Hymen. This on a fan from the unfortunate queen’s collection,
which, together with the last mentioned, appeared at the Walker sale in
1882; the mount skin, the stick mother-of-pearl, carved in open with
portraits of the queen and the young dauphin.
The fan (brisé) presented by the town of Dieppe to Marie-Antoinette,
in celebration of the same event,[113] is declared by Balzac to be the
handsomest of all historical fans. It is of ivory open work, carved by
the famous worker Le Flamand, eulogised by Bernardin de Saint-Pierre.
The subject, from the design for Vien, premier peintre to Louis XVI.,
is an episode in the life of Alexander the Great. Porus, an Indian
prince, on the eastern bank of the Hydaspes, refused to submit to
Alexander, but, defeated and taken prisoner, he was brought into the
presence of the conqueror. Asked how he expected to be treated, he
boldly replied, ‘As a brave man and a king.’ Alexander, subdued by his
foe’s firmness, restored to him his conquered territory.
[Illustration:
Photo by A. Girander.
Fan stick, Ivory, carved with subject of the Assembly of Notables 1787,
figures of Louis XVI & Marie Antoinette on panaches.
Musée du Louvre.]
When the queen was obliged to quit Versailles in 1789, she gave this
fan to Madame du Cray, who was keeper of her Majesty’s laces. From
Madame du Cray it passed into the possession of her daughter, Madame la
Bruyère, who, at her death, bequeathed it to Monsieur de Thiac, by whom
it was exhibited at South Kensington in 1870.
The ivory stick—the mount has long since perished, if it ever possessed
one—acquired by the Louvre, and formerly in the collection Revoil,
in 1828, is said to have been once the property of Marie-Antoinette.
The brins carved are with a subject of the king, with the two royal
princes on his right hand, receiving a deputation of ministers, the
whole enclosed within a florid and meandering cartouche, the background
and diapers _à jour_. On the panaches appear figures of Louis and
Marie-Antoinette, above their heads two genii bear the royal crown; on
the gorge are medallions of Cupids, with tragic and comic masks.
Here, then, we have two typical examples of the ivory work of the last
quarter of the eighteenth century, the best, presumably, that the epoch
could produce, since both were executed for the queen.
The last named, last also in the order of production, although it
carries picturesque richness of effect to its utmost possible limit,
nevertheless represents a worn-out tradition, an art which had become
moribund, lifeless, incapable of any fresh effort, repeating the same
tiresome platitudes with wearing and monotonous persistency; the
former, on the other hand, indicative of the commencement of that
regeneration of French art, which, inaugurated by Vien, ultimately
resulted in the creation of a school of painting and design, finding,
in the vitality of its poetic invention, no parallel in modern Europe,
and making its influence felt even to the present day.
The reign of Spartan simplicity of dress commenced early, and was
brought about by several causes, the first being the visit to Paris of
the American deputies, headed by Benjamin Franklin, 1776-78. Thus Count
de Ségur in his ‘Memoirs’: ‘It was as if the sages of Greece and Rome
had suddenly appeared; their antique simplicity of dress, their firm
and plain demeanour, their free and direct language, formed a contrast
to the frivolity, effeminacy, and servile refinements of the French.
The tide of fashion and nobility ran after these republicans, and
ladies, lords, and men of letters all worshipped them.’
Among other contributory causes was the publication of Saint-Pierre’s
novel, _Paul et Virginie_, in which the heroine is described as being
attired in a simple robe of white muslin, with plain straw hat, a
picture which instantly captivated the Parisiennes. Moreover, the
classic revival which set in about the middle of the century had
gathered force, so that by the commencement of the Revolution the time
had become ripe for a complete change. While the ladies were attired _à
la Grec_, the gentlemen cropped their hair _à la Romain_.
The fan followed the prevailing order of things, and affected
simplicity. During the period of the Directoire, and the Empire which
succeeded, the painted mounts gradually disappeared, their place being
taken by those of silk of various colours, ornamented with spangles and
similar devices.
The mount of Miss Ethel Birdwood’s fan, an excellent example of the
simple type, is most certainly French, obtained in France by the
grandparents of Sir George, who were expelled Huguenots, and sent out
by them to Canton to be mounted. The stick is admirably in keeping
with the reticent character of the mount, and exhibits no trace of the
characteristic Oriental vice of excess in ornamental detail.
[Illustration: Directoire Fan, green silk mount, spangled mother of
pearl stick carved à jour.
Miss Ethel Travers Birdwood.
‘Sans Gêne’ & Directoire Fans, red silk mounts, sticks ivory and ebony
respectively.
Mr L. C. R. Messel.]
[Illustration: ‘Sans Gêne’ Fan, leaf green silk with figure of an opera
dancer, stick ivory, applied leather on guards.
Empire Fan, leaf red silk with band of net & ornament in gold, silver &
spangles, stick ivory, tinted crimson.
Mr L. C. R. Messel.]
It was inevitable that a system of decoration so easy of application,
and at the same time so effective as spangling, should have an
extended vogue. The device was first introduced as a framework to
pictures or miniatures _en cartouche_, and as emphasising the leading
lines of a design. Gradually a more lavish use of these glistening
ornaments was made, until, during the Directoire and Empire periods,
spangling formed the chief decorative _motif_ of the design; figures
being treated with spangled draperies, the flesh painted. In the
Directoire fan illustrated, with Ceres in a chariot drawn by two
bullocks, spangling is carried to its utmost limit, the whole subject,
figures, animals, chariot, and accessories, being treated with these
little gold and silver discs of varying sizes.
This refers to the Fête de l’Agriculture celebrated by the
administration of the department of the Seine 10 messidor an VI. (28
June 1798). A lavishly ornamented car drawn by six bullocks, their
hoofs and horns gilded, the whole decorated with wreaths of flowers,
was accompanied by the Free Trade Society of Agriculture, and the
administrators of the Natural History Museum and Veterinary School,
carrying agricultural implements, surmounted by a sheaf of corn, over
which floated the oriflamme of France; their destination being the
Temple dedicated to Cybele in the middle of the grand square of the
Champs Élysées.
The ancient form of the chariot, says Blondel, the groups of stationary
guards with entwined arms, indicating thereby that those around
cultivate and defend the fields, serve equally to represent agriculture
to the imagination and the ancient fêtes that fertile Phrygia
celebrated in honour of the goddess of Harvests at the foot of Mount
Ida. The event was commemorated on a number of fans, both painted in
gouache and printed; Blondel figures one in the possession of the heir
of Madame Tallien, printed and coloured by hand, erroneously supposing
it to refer to this event;[114] in this instance also, as in the
example illustrated facing p. 136, two bullocks only are represented.
This glorification of Ceres and Cybele led to the general adoption
of straw for the various articles of costume, following an older
fashion. ‘There is nothing but straw in the impoverished dresses of the
ladies,’ exclaim MM. de Goncourt in their _Société Française pendant le
Directoire_, echoing a curious vaudeville of the period, ‘mob caps of
straw, bonnets of straw, fans of straw, and spangles—nothing is made
without spangles.’
‘Paillette aux bonnets,
Aux toquets,
Aux petits corsets!
Paillette
Aux fins bandeaux,
Aux grands chapeaux!
Paillette
Aux noirs colliers,
Aux blancs souliers!
Paillette
Paillette aux rubans,
Aux turbans,
On ne voit rien sans
Paillette.’
In the ‘Sans Gêne’ fan, with figure of an opera dancer, the dress of
the lady is pink gauze. The material of the leaf (green silk) is cut
away, leaving the dress semi-transparent in those parts which are not
overlaid with spangles.
During the Empire period and later, this system of the introduction
of gauze or net was carried further, fans being treated with a broad
border of net, and various applied decorations in gold, silver, and
spangles, these being the precursors of the fans made entirely of gauze
or net, decorated in a similar manner, and in vogue during the first
quarter of the nineteenth century.
[Illustration: Lorgnette Fans, ivory, in form of arrows, silvered, two
circular horn, with palliettes, semicircular horn with paillettes.
Mr L. C. R. Messel.]
Lorgnette or opera-glass fans are evidence of a fashion that obtained
during the seventeenth and again during the latter half of the
eighteenth centuries. M. Blondel quotes from _Menagiana_ as follows:—
‘The fans _à jour_ carried by the women, when they go to Porte
Saint-Bernard to take the air on the bank of the river, are called
“lorgnettes.”’
A paper called _Nécessaire_, for 1759, refers to this means of
satisfying pardonable curiosity without wounding modesty. A small
opera- or spy-glass was set in the chief sticks of the fan, either at
the top of the panache, probably the earliest form, or at the rivet.
In the former case the whole of the blades were perforated, the fan
when opened showing a series of circular perforations round its upper
border. The advantage of such an arrangement will be obvious; a fair
reveller might see without being seen, and the tell-tale blush be hid.
For more distant objects the opera-glass was called into requisition,
the fan used either open or closed.
‘Pour cacher la pudeur d’usage
Contre un beau front le papier sert
Et les brins forment un passage
Par où l’œil voyage à couvert.’[115]
The material was either ivory, horn, or occasionally, in the case
of the semicircular folding-fans, gauze, decorated with spangles or
embroidered work.
The brisés were made to the semicircular shape, and also to that of
the full circle or cockade. In the latter instance the long handle was
provided with circular loops, by which the fan might be held in the
same manner as a pair of scissors.
The blades assume various shapes, as that of Love’s arrow, the bat’s
wing, an umbrella, a snake, a violin, and, when made of horn, were
usually decorated with ‘piqué.’
A curious and uncommon lorgnette-fan of the period of Louis XIV.,
in the possession of Madame Jubinal, is entirely of ivory ‘découpé
à jour,’ with appliqués in gelatine imitating mica, forming a
transparency through which roguish eyes may see and at the same time
be protected as with a curtain. A semicircular lorgnette-fan, of fine
design, is seen in the hands of Madame Devauçay, in the portrait by
Ingres, collection of M. Frédéric Reiset, painted 1806.
These interesting fans remained in vogue during the first quarter of
the nineteenth century and later.
The last stage of the fan during this foolish, frivolous, fascinating
eighteenth century was that of a gradual dwindling into nothingness.
Madame de Genlis, in her _Dictionary of Etiquette_ (1818), remarks:
‘When women were timid and blushed, they were accustomed to carry large
fans to hide their blushes, serving at once as screen and veil: now
that they blush no longer, and are intimidated by nothing, they do not
choose to hide their faces, and therefore carry but microscopic fans
(_éventails imperceptibles_).’[116]
Blondel states that ‘this small degree of fashion continued under the
First Empire, when fans, still very small, were for the most part
brisés or garnished with taffalas; a few, however, were embellished
with steel pearls, like the jewels of Petit Dunkerque.’
[Illustration: Spangled gauze with turtle doves.
Blue & gold, spangled.
Mr L.C.R. Messel.
Mauve silk & net, spangled.
lorgnette embroidered gauze.]
We have seen how, during the period of the balloon petticoat, the fan,
like the frog in the fable, anxious to outdo his big neighbour the ox,
swelled—and swelled—and swelled. The consequences were less disastrous
in the case of the fan, which is nothing if not consistent. The small
imps of the fan tribe carried by those truly miraculous creatures the
Merveilleuses, whose costume was reduced to such exceedingly scanty
proportions that a Frenchman even was moved to inquire if nudity
would not have been a gain to modesty, were in perfect keeping with
the _tout ensemble_. The fan lessened its proportions, grew more and
more imperceptible as the rest of the costume grew scantier, until, as
in the example in the collection of Mr. L. C. R. Messel, the blades
measured but two and a half inches!
[Illustration: JAPANESE LADY’S COURT FAN, WITH STREAMERS. (Ethnological
Museum, Berlin.)]
CHAPTER VIII
PAINTED FANS OF THE SEVENTEENTH AND EIGHTEENTH CENTURIES. ENGLISH,
DUTCH, FLEMISH, AND GERMAN.
The history of the folded fan in England may, broadly speaking, be said
to date from the establishment of the East India Company in 1600; this
event marking the commencement of that Oriental trade which assumed
such vast proportions during the succeeding century. Isolated examples
of the pleated fan had, however, found their way into this country
earlier, these either brought by individual traders from the East, or
imported from the Continent of Europe. We have already referred to the
remarkable instance of the pleated fan appearing on the great seal of
England, forming the crest of Cœur de Lion; a conclusive proof that
this form of fan was at any rate known, if not in occasional use, in
this country during the Middle Ages.
[Illustration: LONG-HANDLED FEATHER-FAN
(Used in the Marie Stuart dance.)]
[Illustration: Telemachus & Calypso, English, 1780. silk mount,
spangled, stick ivory, finely carved with medallions in imitation of
Wedgwood’s Jasper ware.
The Dowager Marchioness of Bristol.]
The plumed fan, nevertheless, held its own for a considerable period,
although it is extremely unlikely that it was much in vogue before the
reign of Henry VIII., when we are informed that ‘even young gentlemen
carried fans of feathers in their hands, which in wars our ancestors
wore on their heads.’[117] Shakespeare refers to ‘those remnants of
fool and feather that they have got from France.’ So, also, Stephen
Gosson, _Pleasant Quips for upstart Gentlewomen_, 1596:
‘Were fannes and flappes of feathers fond
To flit away the flisking flies,
As tail of mare that hangs on ground
When heat of Summer doth arise,
The wit of women we might praise
For finding out so great an ease.
‘But, seeing they are still in hand,
In house, in field, in church, in street,
In summer, winter, water, land,
In cold, in heate, in dry, in weet,
I judge they are for wives such tooles
As bables are for playes for fooles.’
The author of _Quips for an upstart Courtier_, 1620, drawing a
comparison between the degeneracy of his time and the purer manners of
an earlier period, says: ‘_Then_ our young courtiers strove to exceed
one another in vertue and in bravery; they rode not with fannes to ward
their faces from the wind.’
In Hall’s _Satires_, 1598, describing the dandies of his day:
‘Tir’d with pinn’d cuffs, and fans, and partlet stryps.’
In the play of _Lingua, or The Combat of the Tongue and the Five Senses
for Superiority_, 1617, the following directions are given for the
character of Phantastes at the head of the second scene of Act II.
‘A swart complexion’d fellow, but quicke-ey’d, in a white Satten
doublet of one fashion, green Velvet hose of another; a phantasticall
hat with a plume of fethers of severall colours, a little short
Taffata cloake, a paire of Buskins cut, drawne out with sundry
coloured Ribands with Scarfes hung about him after all fashions, and
of all colours. Rings, Jewels, a _Fanne_, and in every place odde
complements.’
In the woodcut headings to the _Roxburghe Ballads_ (_c._ 1635), both
feather- and folding-fans are shown; the frequent illustration of these
instruments testifying to the popularity of the fan at this epoch.
The first appearance of the modern fan, says Fairholt, may be seen in
a print of the early part of the seventeenth century. The long handle
is still retained, and the fan, although arranged in folds, does not
appear to be capable of being folded. The fans here referred to are
those seen in the prints by Vecellio and earlier engravers, small in
size, referred to and illustrated in a previous chapter.[118]
It is not until the last decade of the sixteenth century that the
folded fan appears in painted portraits, one of the earliest being that
of Queen Elizabeth at Jesus College (1590), in which the Queen holds
a découpé fan of the character of that illustrated from Cluny, facing
page 109, having similar pointed edging.
The edges of these fans were occasionally varied to a semicircular
form, a curiously interesting example appearing in a portrait of
Elizabeth, Lady Wentworth, by Lucas de Heere, in which the leaf,
probably of vellum or parchment, is elaborately découpé; the edges
resembling a cheese-cutter in shape, the blades, apparently of ivory,
numbering seven.
The patterning often rivalled the finest lace, of which it was
obviously an imitation, lace also being used for fan mounts at this
period, usually costly Flanders or Valenciennes. In the series
of prints by Hollar of the Four Seasons, 1641, the veiled lady
representing ‘Summer’ holds in her right hand an opened lace fan, the
quaint legend at the foot of the plate running as follows:
‘In Sumer when wee walke to take the ayre,
Wee thus are vayl’d to keep our faces faire,
And lest our beautie should be soiled with sweate
Wee with our ayrie fannes depell the heate.’
[Illustration: A London Fan Shop, c.1745. Mr L.C.R. Messel]
[Illustration: The surrender of Malta. Mrs Hungerford Pollen.]
The marriage of Charles II. with Catherine of Braganza in 1662 is
another landmark in the history of the fan in this country. The Queen
and her Portuguese ladies introduced the gigantic green shading fans
of Moorish origin, which, in the absence of parasols (then unknown in
England), served also to shield the complexions of the ladies from the
sun, when they did not wish wholly to obscure their charms by putting
on their masks. The Indian trade, however, opened up by Catherine’s
marriage treaty, soon supplied the ladies of England with fans better
adapted, by their lightness and elegance, to be used as weapons of
coquetry at balls and plays.[119]
Large numbers of fan mounts were also imported from Italy, both at this
period and later. These are referred to incidentally in one of Steele’s
letters to the _Tatler_, April 23, 1709. ‘I am just come from visiting
Sappho [probably Mrs. Elizabeth Haywood, who had been some time on the
Irish stage]. As I came into the room she cries, “Oh, Mr. Bickerstaff,
I am utterly undone; I have broken that pretty Italian fan I showed
you when you were here last, wherein were so admirably drawn our first
parents in Paradise asleep in each other’s arms.”’[120]
The fan of Pope’s epigram was, it will be remembered, painted with the
story of Cephalus and Procris, the motto ‘Aura Veni.’
‘Come gentle air! th’ Eolian shepherd said
While Procris panted in the secret shade;
Come gentle air! the fairer Delia cries,
While at her feet her swain expiring lies.
Lo, the glad gales o’er all her beauties stray,
Breathe on her lips, and in her bosom play!
In Delia’s hand this toy is fatal found,
Nor could that fabled dart more surely wound;
Both gifts destructive to the givers prove;
Alike both lovers fall by those they love.’
Two fine examples of early fans with subjects from classic mythology
appeared at the Walker sale; the first having a skin mount painted
with the Triumph of Amphitrite, in which the daughter of Nereus is
seated in a shell drawn by dolphins, with attendant nymphs and tritons,
a figure of Cupid, blindfolded, hovering above; this in allusion to
Neptune having sent the Dolphin to intercede for him, and to bring
his innamorata from the foot of Mount Atlas. The stick is rosewood,
inlaid with rays of mother-of-pearl. The second, from the collection
of the Duchesse de Nemours, representing the marriage of Neptune and
Amphitrite, the subject covering the whole field of a deep mount; the
stick, mother-of-pearl, carved with a pastoral scene and smaller panels
of warriors.
Among the earliest English fans existing in private collections is a
mount of the time of Charles I., the original stick of which is said
to have been of gold, jewelled. The painting, a copy of the ‘Triumph
of Bacchus,’ by A. Carracci, is attributed (probably erroneously) to
Peter Oliver. The fan was given by the Princess Anne (afterwards Queen)
to her god-daughter, Sarah Robinson, daughter of Sir John Robinson,
Master of the Tower, and widow of the eldest son of Sir Humphrey Gore,
on her marriage, in 1696, with John Harvey, Esq., of Ickwellbury,
Beds. It is an example of a large class of fan mounts produced at this
period, which were reproductions of the works of the greater Italian
masters, many of which were, doubtless, copied by Italian artists, and
either exported to England, or acquired in Italy by visitors to that
country.
Two interesting marriage fans of the period of Charles II., both
painted by the same hand, appeared at the Walker sale in 1882; the
one, ‘An Ancient Marriage,’ with the bridegroom presenting ring, the
bride wearing a floral chaplet and attended by maidens with distaff
and flowers; the stick of ivory, carved with emblematic figures,
mother-of-pearl inlay, and silver piqué. The subject of the other
(Achilles and Deidamia) referring to the taking of Troy; on the reverse
a view of the park at St. Cloud; the stick, mother-of-pearl, carved
with subjects emblematic of marriage. These, doubtless, were made
by the French fan-makers who had become domiciled in England, and
probably, as Mr. Robert Walker suggests, for important court personages.
[Illustration: Fêtes on the occasion of the marriage of the Dauphin.
1770. French, Wyatt Coll^n. V. & A. Museum.]
[Illustration: English Fan, painted with medallions of the Visit
&c. exhibited at South Kensington in 1870 by the Baroness Meyer de
Rothschild.]
It was upon the revocation of the Edict of Nantes, 1685, that the
French Huguenots being obliged, through the persecution of their
compatriots, to quit their own country, sought refuge in England as
well as other countries, where they were received with open arms.
Amongst these were a number of éventaillistes, who established an
industry, having brought with them, not only the money they had been
able to save, but what was still more valuable, their skill as workers,
their habitual diligence and thrift. ‘The countries whither they
went were enriched by the arts and trades which the French refugees
introduced, and still more by the examples of industry, probity, and
sincere piety which they exhibited in their own persons.’[121]
In 1709, upon the ‘humble petition of the Ffanmakers that exercise the
Art and Mistery of Ffanmaking in London and Westminster and Twenty
Miles round,’ a Charter of incorporation was granted by Queen Anne,
providing that ‘all Ffanmakers within the prescribed area, and all
persons who have served, or shall hereafter serve, as Apprentices
to the said Art and Mistery by the space of seven years, and who
hereafter, from time to time, shall be Admitted into, or made free of
the Society, shall be one Body Corporate and Politick in Deed and in
Name, with a common seal, with power to hold lands, and power to sue
and defend the same. Power to make bye-laws touching the good estate,
Rule, and Government of the Society, and for the Reformation of such
abuses and deceits as shall be found to be committed by them either in
uttering or making bad and deceitfull works, as also in their several
Offices, functions, Misteries, and business touching the said Trade,’
etc.
During the latter half of the seventeenth and the first half of the
eighteenth centuries the importation of fans into this country from
India, China, and the East was considerable, and, together with the
Italian importation, already alluded to, threatened to ruin the
home industry. The fanmakers addressed themselves to Parliament,
and demanded its prohibition, with the result that a tax of forty
shillings a dozen was imposed upon all wooden- and feather-fans, and
for a time the importation of all painted fans was prohibited. In 1750
there appear to have been disputes between the Fanmakers’ Company and
journeymen fanmakers on account of non-payment of quarterage. Two
interesting items of information appear in the _Gentleman’s Magazine_
for October and December 1870 as follows:—
‘On the 28th ult. was try’d a cause between the Company of Fanmakers,
incorporated by Charter for the Cities of London, Westminster, and
twenty miles round, plaintiffs, and one Wagstaffe, defendant, for
quarterage due to them, who was ordered to pay it with costs.’
‘On the 28th ult. was a tryal in the Court of Requests, Westminster,
between the Company of Fanmakers, plaintiffs, and some fan-painters,
defendants, for non-payment of quarterage, which was determined for
the defendants, it appearing that they were not legal members of the
said Company.’
The two following items will serve to show the extent of the fan
industry in the middle of the eighteenth century, and the adverse
conditions under which it laboured.
‘A writer in the _Westminster Journal_ for February 23, 1751 (quoted
by the _Gentleman’s Magazine_ for the same year), proposes a tax upon
plain and printed fan mounts. Painted ones not coloured to pass free
as before. A sixpenny stamp to be affixed in the midst of a plain or
printed paper fan mount, and a shilling stamp on a leather one. This
may produce a revenue of ten, twenty, or thirty thousand pounds per
annum, encourage a very ingenious branch of business, and only hurt
about half-a-dozen paultry plate printers, who are enriching themselves
and starving of hundreds.’
[Illustration: English Fan, ivory, finely painted with medallions in
the style of Cosway
Wyatt Coll^n. V. & A. Museum.]
The _Gentleman’s Magazine_ for November 1752 quotes an advertisement
which appeared in the _Daily Advertiser_, ‘from the poor unfortunate
artificers in the several branches of the fan trade, whose number
is nearly 1000; returning thanks to the Company of Fanmakers for
petitioning the E. India directors to discontinue the importation of
fans. To excite the regard and compassion of the ladies, it asserts
that the home-made fans are in every way preferable to foreign;
and that by discouraging the latter, they will relieve a number of
unfortunate families from the most grievous distress and despair.’[122]
‘On the 7th February’ (_Gentleman’s Magazine_, March 1753), ‘the
journeymen fanmakers presented the Princess Dowager of Wales with a
beautiful and elegant fan, far superior to Indian fans, which was most
graciously received.’ This, doubtless, with the idea of obtaining
patronage and support for the home-made article.
The imported fans were for the most part sold by tea-merchants and
dealers in Oriental wares.
A trade card in the Schreiber collection, British Museum, with an
elaborate engraved portrait of Queen Anne, states that John Roberts
at the Queen’s Head in Holborn, near Hatton Garden, London, sells all
sorts of Fine China Ware; the finest Hyson and Congo Teas, Fine Double
Flint Drinking Glasses, etc., _and India Fans_.
The fan _makers_ also often combined the trade of fanmaking with the
sale of millinery and stationery. The Banks collection of Shop Bills
includes the following trade card:—
‘Robert Pickeard, at the Swan and Golden Fan in Cheapside, near the
Conduit, London.
‘Mounteth and Maketh all sorts of Fans, and Selleth Silk Gauze and
Silver Handkerchiefs, Caps, Girdles, Ribbons, Roles, Wiers, Ferrits,
Silver Lace for Shoes, white Buttons for Shirts, Silk and Ferrit
Laces, Masks and Necklaces.
‘_N.B._—Any Merchant may be furnished with all kinds of Milenary
Wares at Cheap Rates.’
Also we find Honour Chassereau, Fan Maker and Stationer, Fan and Crown,
Long Acre, London, ‘selling all sorts of Stationery Wares, Wholesale,
Retail, and for Exportation.’
The principal enactments for the regulation of the import trade in fans
and materials of the fan are here enumerated:—
By the 11th Geo. I. cap. 7, calpins for fans are rated in the Custom
House books at 7s. 6d. a dozen, and the duty paid on importation 1s.
5d. and 7/8ths a dozen.
If made of leather, and the leather be the most valuable part, for
every 20s. of real value upon oath, the duty is 6s.
By the 12th Charles II. cap. 4, fans for women or children, of French
make, are rated in the Custom House books at £2 per dozen, and the duty
£1, 5s. per dozen. _But if these fans are painted, they are prohibited
to be imported, and are seizable as painted wares._ The laws regulating
the importation of embroidery are still more stringent.
By the Acts Richard III. cap. 10, 3rd Edward IV. cap. 3, 19th Henry
VII. cap. 21, 5th Elizabeth, cap. 7, 13th and 14th Charles II. cap.
13, 4th and 5th William and Mary, cap. 10, 9th and 10th William III.
cap. 9, 11th and 12th William III. cap. 11, embroidery imported is
forfeited, the importer liable to £100, and the seller to £50.
The various materials, as gold and silver thread, or wire, lace fringe,
work made of copper, brass, or any other inferior metal, imported, _to
be forfeited and burnt_, and £100 paid by the importer of every parcel
so imported. This under 4th Edward III., 10th Anne, cap. 26, 15th
George II. cap. 20, and 22nd George II.
[Illustration: Ivory Empire Fan. Lady Northcliffe.]
[Illustration: Spangled Fan, with painted miniatures. English. Mrs
Frank W. Gibson.]
By the 6th Anne, cap. 19, silks wrought or mixed with gold, silver,
or other materials, clandestinely imported, are forfeited, with £200
for every importer, and £100 by the receiver, seller, or concealer.
It therefore appears that either mounts, or fans that are painted, are
seizable; and that all fans or mounts embellished with gold or silver
are prohibited under very severe penalties, particularly under 4th
Edward III., and 15th and 22nd George II. Further, paper fan-mounts
could not be imported without paying a duty of 55 per cent.; the duty
on plain fans being 27-1/2 per cent., or, if imported as toys, 37 per
cent.
In a table of fees taken by packers and water-side porters for shipping
and landing the goods or merchandise of strangers, second charter of
Charles II., 1660, ‘For a load of fans, one shilling.’
The vogue of fans became general during the first half of the
eighteenth century, when fan-painting was a most lucrative profession.
The sculptor Nollekens tells us that when his wife was a girl, her
father’s intimate friend Goupy (a well-known water-colour draughtsman
who died in London in 1763) was considered the most eminent of the
fan-painters, and that fan-painting was then so fashionable that the
family of ‘Athenian Stuart’ (so called on account of his exquisite
studies of Athens) placed him as a pupil to Goupy, conceiving that by
so doing they had made his fortune; and we learn from other sources
that Stuart originally gained his livelihood by painting fans.
A fan-mount in the Schreiber collection is painted with three
medallions of Roman views, The Arch of Constantine, The Arch of Titus,
and The Forum, the field of the fan decorated with delicate classical
grotesques and border, signed ‘Jose Goupy, 1738, N.A.’ The views are
skilfully drawn in pen line with wash, in the style of the water-colour
draughtsmen of this period, _i.e._ a low-toned scheme of colour, a good
deal of india ink being used. This signed example is of the greatest
value in determining the character of Goupy’s work, and it is extremely
probable that he was responsible for a good many mounts generally
considered as Italian. It was from Goupy, too, that Stuart originally
derived his interest in classic architectural remains, and, doubtless
also, much of his skill in depicting them.
Fans had, indeed, at this period become an indispensable adjunct to
a lady’s toilet, a temporary loss of this instrument, upon occasion,
causing much perturbation of spirit. An amusing story of such a
catastrophe is told in _The Gentleman’s Magazine_ for April 1736:
‘What whims, what trifles, light as air,
Govern the passions of the fair,
And their dear, thoughtless bosoms tear!
Madame had come to grace the ball with her charming presence, her
powdered admirers crowding about her, while,
Some dance, some sip their tea,
Some chat the pleasing hours away,
And all is innocently gay,
when, all on a sudden, Her Ladyship confounds the company by appearing
in furious mood, with a voice like thunder, every one demanding the
matter. Then the charming Celia, moralising, said:
‘“What pity ‘tis (in great affairs
When prudence tempers all her cares)
This lady should our mirth destroy,
A vixen, for so meer a toy!
Oh! how I blush to hear and see
A nymph (who, all the world agree,
Has acted well three parts in life,
The maid, the widow, and the wife),
Once mistress of so firm a mind,
Who wisely, decently resign’d,
Without a tear, her good old man,
Roar like Othello—for a fan.
Strange! that this engine, wont to prove
The surest instrument of love,
Should give to its illustrious dame,
While others freeze, so fierce a flame!”’
[Illustration: Wedding Fan, with Blanchard’s balloon, 1784. French Mrs
Hawkins.]
[Illustration: St. Peters and the Vatican, Rome, probably by J. Goupy.
Dr. Law Adam.]
The fan-shops of Fleet Street, the Strand, and Westminster are
continually referred to in the advertisements which appeared from
time to time in the _Craftsman_. The two following note a change of
ownership:—
‘Feb. 6, 1741-2.
‘To be sold, at Gordon’s Fan warehouse, The Crown and Fan in
Tavistock Street, Covent Garden. All sorts of Fans. Wholesale and
Retail, very cheap. The Person leaving off trade.’
‘Feb. 12 1742-3.
‘Gordon’s Fan Warehouse, in Tavistock Street, Covent Garden. Mr.
Gordon having left off Trade, the Business, as usual, is carry’d on
by his late journey-woman,
MARY HITCHCOCK,
At the same Place, where Ladies may be accommodated with all sorts of
Fans, at the most reasonable Rates.’
From the extremely naïve and interesting ‘fan-shop’ fan belonging to
Mr. Messel we are able to gather some idea of what these shops were
like. The inscription on the shop sign is ‘Fanmaker, London,’ showing
that the district represented was within the London boundary of this
period, _c._ 1745.
During the comparatively brief reign of Queen Anne fans were again made
large. Sir Roger de Coverley, upon his courting the perverse widow,
declared that he would have allowed her the ‘profits of a windmill for
her fans.’[123]
With the proverbial fickleness of fashion, however, this vogue lasted
but a short time; the fan lessened its proportions in the second and
third decades of the century, when, during the forties, its size once
again increased, following the lead of France. ‘Ventosus,’ writing in
the _London Magazine_ for 1744, quotes, with some amusing comments,
an epigram by Dr. Atterbury, Bishop of Rochester, originally written
upon a white fan borrowed from Miss Osborne, afterwards his wife, and
referred to by Steele in the _Tatler_ for October 19, 1710:
‘Flavia, the least and lightest toy
Can with relentless art employ:
This Fan, in meaner hands, would prove
An engine of small force in love;
Yet she, with graceful air and mien,
Not to be told, or sagely seen,
Directs its wanton motions so,
That it wounds more than Cupid’s bow;
Gives coolness to the matchless dame,
To ev’ry other breast a flame.’
‘The whole turn of this,’ exclaims our commentator, ‘depends upon the
smallness and slightness of the Instrument—the least and lightest
toy? Fans now in vogue are both monstrously _large_ and monstrously
_strong_. To say that a fan of eight or nine inches long, which,
when extended in a semicircle could not admit a string of more than
fourteen or fifteen, _wounds more than Cupid’s Bow_, is somewhat
extraordinary, but to ascribe the same excellence to one of our modern
_ventilators_, whose Diagonal line, when it is full spread, is longer
than one of the Bowstrings of our _Hoxton_ Archers, is ascribing
nothing miraculous to it from the fair Hand that may happen to use it.’
Our good Ventosus had witnessed an increase from ‘3 Quarters of a Foot’
to ‘even 2 Foot within this week past’; he looks forward to a still
greater improvement when the fan would extend to the same distance as
the _fashionable Hoop_. This would introduce ‘somewhat of uniformity
in a Lady’s Dress, and the age would be agreeably engaged at either
meeting or following a fair Toast, with both her sails spread, in
observing the harmony between the _Curve at Top_ and the _Curve at
Bottom_,’ etc. Our ingenious friend discovers other uses for such an
instrument—‘a lady might mount it horizontally, to skreen herself and
Family against all the Inclemencies of the weather.’
[Illustration: Wedding Fan, Directoire, stick horn, piqué in gold, leaf
silk, painted with subjects of the Visit &c. Mr L. C. R. Messel.]
Again, at the Playhouse, a good-natured lady may ‘have it in her power
to oblige a whole Side Box by a single Puff, and prevent the Beaux,
as well as the Belles, from fainting away at an extraordinary Pathos.’
The possibilities of such an instrument have, apparently, no limit—‘a
Blast or two from this machine would be sufficient to whiff away to a
convenient Distance all troublesome and worthless Danglers, who may
attempt to besiege its fortunate possessor.’
Nay, besides private benefits, one of a national nature occurs to the
mind of our imaginative friend—‘20,000 such fans, properly drawn up on
the Shore, might _blow back_ the next French invasion, or at least keep
off the Enemies’ Fleet till _our own_ had Time to come up.’
Our author might indeed, with strict adherence to truth, have included
the beaux as well as the belles in this fanciful defence, with a
proportionate increase in the probability of victory. Amongst the
effects referred to in the inventory of a beau, who was carried off
dead upon the taking away of his snuff-box, and remained unburied,
his goods being taken into execution to defray the charge of his
funeral—‘The strong-box of the deceased, wherein were found five
billet-doux, a Bath shilling, a crooked sixpence, a silk garter, a lock
of hair, and _three broken fans_.’[124]
In the postscript to Addison’s letter on the subject of his ‘Fan
Academy’—‘I teach young gentlemen the whole art of gallanting a fan.
_N.B._ I have reserved little plain fans, made for this use, to avoid
expense.’[125]
At the dancing assemblies in London, Bath, and elsewhere, it was
customary for the gentlemen to select their partners by the ballot of
fans, which were placed in a hat, the owner of the fan drawn becoming
the partner of the gentleman who drew it. Mrs. Montagu, in one of
her letters, refers to this custom. ‘In the afternoon I went to Lord
Oxford’s ball at Marylebone. It was very agreeable; and the partners
were chosen by their fans, but with a little _supercherie_.’ A lady’s
fan was almost as well known as her face, and it was not difficult,
with a little contrivance, to know which to draw. The same lady,
writing from Bath in January 1740, says: ‘Last night I took to the
more youthful diversion of dancing, and am nothing but a fan (which my
partner tore) the worse for it; our beaux here may make a rent in a
woman’s fan, but they will never make a hole in her heart.’[126]
The popularity of the union of the ‘Orange Tree with the English
Rose’ is abundantly testified by the number of painted fans issued of
this subject. A painted bridal-fan of the Princess Anne, daughter of
George II., married to the Prince of Orange in 1733, appeared at the
Walker sale in 1882, and sold for £26. In this the Princess is seated,
attended by the Loves and Graces.
The preliminaries of peace between Austria and France in 1748 provide
a subject for a fan appearing at this same sale. The scene represents
a tented field. Maria Theresa, Queen of Hungary, joins hands with la
France, the rival banners inscribed—‘Vive Louis XV., and Vive la Reine
d’Hungrie’; the English banner of St. George in front; at the back
the victory of Admiral Hawke. This probably executed for an English
partisan on the occasion of the Peace of Aix-la-Chapelle.
A characteristic fan in the Wyatt collection, of the early part of the
century, has a paper mount painted with merry-making scenes, persons
dancing, drinking, musicians, etc.; the ivory stick carved _à jour_,
painted with birds and flowers; the guards, mother-of-pearl, carved and
painted.
[Illustration: Early Dutch Fan mount. A settlement in the East Indies.
The Dowager Marchioness of Bristol.]
Mr. George Augustus Sala, in his entertaining preface to the fan
exhibition held at Drapers’ Hall in 1878, refers to a remarkably
curious fan exhibited some twenty years earlier, at a congress of the
Archæological Institute held at Worcester. This, evidently an English
production, is a gouache on vellum, representing either the Great
Lottery of 1714, or the equally remarkable gambling enterprise
of 1718, when the popular greed of gain was stimulated to such an
extraordinary degree that a million and a half sterling was subscribed.
The scene is the interior of Mercer’s Hall, Ironmonger Lane, Cheapside,
where transactions connected with lotteries took place, showing the
platform with side galleries conveniently arranged for a crowd of gay
gallants and fashionable dames in the full costume of the period; the
lottery tickets are in the course of being drawn by Blue-coat boys,
a wheel on either side for blanks and prizes. The design, says our
author, is identified with a contemporary engraving by H. Parr, ‘Les
divertissements de la Loterie,’ designed by T. Marchant, drawn by
Gravelot, and published by Ryland. Gravelot was a French engraver and
decorative painter, invited to this country by Claude Dubosc to assist
in illustrating a sumptuous history of the campaigns of Marlborough.
Of topographical fans, that owned by Miss Moss, giving a view of
Kensington Square as it appeared in the latter half of the seventeenth
century, is amongst the most interesting: it is extremely fresh in
colour, and exhibits a quaint sense of decorative treatment.
A fan with a view of Cavendish Square is attributed to Canaletto, who
in the latter part of his life visited London, where he was held in
great estimation. The subject is enclosed within a cartouche, with
flowers, etc., in the Chinese taste covering the rest of the field. The
stick is of ivory, carved _à jour_, with figures, birds, and foliated
ornament; the edges, when closed, form a subject in relief of birds,
insects, and fruit, this being a device adopted both in Holland,
France, and Italy, but especially in the first-named country. See page
202.
This fan appeared at the Walker sale in 1882, when it was acquired by
the late Baroness Burdett-Coutts.
Spangles appeared about the middle of the century, following the
fashion of France. These served as borderings to subject medallions,
and emphasised the leading lines of the design. A characteristic
fan of this period, 1750-1780, has either one or three medallions
or cartouches, of pastoral or other subjects, with graceful figures
reminiscent of Gainsborough, Hoppner, and other masters of the English
school. These figure medallions were usually supplemented by smaller
ones of musical or other trophies, dainty flowers, festoons, and
borders, the mount being usually silk.
The sticks of these fans were narrow, the number varying from
fourteen to sixteen, including the panaches, the latter delicately
carved _à jour_. The material was generally ivory, but occasionally
mother-of-pearl. The brins were perfectly straight and flat in the
shoulder portion, but invariably richly decorated with embossed gold
and silver work, this often taking the form of a cartouche extending
over six or eight of the sticks, spangles also being freely used.
It would be difficult to discover a more perfect example of this class
of fan, so peculiarly English in type, than the one exhibited at South
Kensington in 1870 by the Baroness Meyer de Rothschild. In this the
centre medallion represents a lady carrying a lap-dog, visiting a
friend who is seated at an embroidery frame; on the inferior panels,
a girl playing with a dove, and a boy with a bird-cage and a tethered
bird. The mount is silk, with spangled borderings, the stick ivory,
finely carved _à jour_, decorated in variegated gold; jewelled stud.
(Illustrated facing p. 180.)
A number of fans were painted by Poggi, who was publishing engraved
fans at this period, and whose fans enjoyed a high reputation. We find
the following entry in Madame D’Arblay’s Journal for March 1781:—
‘Tuesday.—I passed the whole day at Sir Joshua Reynolds’s with Miss
Palmer, who, in the morning, took me to see some beautiful fans
painted by Poggi, from designs of Sir Joshua, Angelica, West, and
Cipriani, on leather. They are, indeed, more delightful than can well
be imagined; one was bespoke by the Duchess of Devonshire, for a
present to some woman of rank in France, that was to cost £30.’
[Illustration: Antony and Cleopatra, Dutch, end of 17th cent.
stick ivory later date, 18-1/2 × 10-3/4
Miss Moss.]
[Illustration: An Embarcation, (pen & ink.) reverse, a dance of
Peasants, stick ivory, finely pierced & carved, Dutch, late 17th.
Cent. M. J. Duvelleroy.]
In the catalogue of drawings, etc., the property of Mr. Poggi, sold by
auction by Messrs. Christie and Ansell at their Great Room, next
Cumberland House, Pall Mall, on Wednesday, June the 19th, 1782, and two
following days. Second Day’s Sale:—
‘DRAWINGS OF FANS
99. Hope nursing Love, by Mr. Poggi.
100. A Nymph nursing the Genius of Love, by ditto.
101. The Universal Power of Love, by ditto.
102. The Three Fine Arts, Painting, Architecture, and Sculpture: from
a design of Angelica Kauffmann, by Mr. Poggi.
103. The Marriage of Cupid and Psyche, by ditto.
104. The Universal Power of Love, by ditto.
105. Cornelia, Mother of the Gracchi, displaying her Jewels, by ditto.
106. The Three Fine Arts, Painting, Architecture, and Sculpture: an
original drawing by A. Kauffmann.
107. A Nymph nursing the Genius of Love, by Mr. Bartolozzi.
108. Cephalus and Procris, with the portrait of Mr. Pope and the
lady to whom he presented a fan with the celebrated lines in the
_Spectator_, ‘Come gentle air,’ etc.: an original drawing by Mr.
Cipriani.[127]
109. The Bust of Pope crowned by the Graces, who are admiring the
beauty of his works: an original drawing by A. Kauffmann.
110. A Fan emblematical of Victory, composed by a Lady of
Quality,[128] by Mr. Poggi.
111. Venus lending the Cæstus to Juno: an original drawing of A.
Kauffmann.
112. A Subject from the Etrusque: an original drawing by Mr.
Bartolozzi.
113. Angelica and Medoro: an original drawing by Mr. Cipriani.
114. Hope nursing Love, by Mr. Poggi.
115. The Origin of Painting: an original drawing by Mr. Bartolozzi.
116. Cornelia, Mother of the Gracchi, displaying her Jewels: an
original drawing by M(?) West.’[129]
Church-fans are referred to more fully in another chapter of this work
(page 248). The painted variety gave such subjects as ‘The Meeting of
Isaac and Rebecca,’ ‘Judith with the Head of Holofernes,’ ‘The Marriage
at Cana,’ ‘Solomon and the Queen of Sheba.’ An early example appeared
at the Walker sale in 1882, having a deep mount painted with the
subject of Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden; the stick ivory, with
the silver piqué ornament so popular during the reigns of Charles II.,
Queen Anne, and George I.
Mourning-fans are easily recognisable from their generally sombre
appearance. In these, the character of the subject is apparently a
matter of small consequence so long as the general colour scheme is
that of a funeral card, viz. black, white, and silver. In the Wyatt
collection is an example of about 1750 painted in black with a pastoral
scene, the stick and guards ivory, painted in black in imitation of the
Chinese.
The extraordinary popularity of Wedgwood’s jasper ware was not without
its influence on the fan. The example in the possession of Lady
Bristol has a richly carved ivory stick with medallion subjects of
Diana hunting, etc., with amorini, terminal figures, and fauns, in
imitation of blue and black jasper, the panels silver piqué. The mount
is of silk, with centre panel in the style of Angelica Kauffmann, the
border and ornaments in gold and silver spangles, with painted Wedgwood
medallions again introduced. (Illustrated facing p. 176.)
It is not difficult to fix its date. Wedgwood had perfected his jasper
process by 1777, and it may be taken that the fan was produced between
this year and 1780.
The painted ivory brisé fans of the latter part of the eighteenth
century are typically English, though derived from an Italian source.
They are quite easy of identification, being invariably delicately
pierced with a fretwork pattern, painted with medallions usually one
superior and two inferior, and gilt, the gold being usually applied
with the brush; the fan opening out to the third of a circle.
[Illustration: Dutch Fan painted with subject of a botanist & lady,
stick ivory, carved & painted. Sir L. Alma-Tadema. O.M., R.A.]
An extremely interesting example is decorated with three medallions,
the centre representing a sleeping nymph with Cupids. This formerly
belonged to Georgiana, Duchess of Devonshire, and was presented to
Queen Alexandra when Princess of Wales by the Duke of Sutherland in
remembrance of his mother.
The marriage relations of the Prince of Wales (afterwards George IV.)
with Mrs. Fitzherbert formed the subject of an ivory fan, exquisitely
cut in fretwork, with three painted cartouches by Richard Cosway,
the centre representing the Prince and lady with Religion descending
in a chariot pointing with pleading looks to a figure of Hymen, who
hovers above; in the two other cartouches the pair are figured in the
characters of Fidelity and Constancy. This fan was exhibited at South
Kensington in 1870; it appeared at the Walker sale in 1882, when it was
sold for eighteen guineas. In 1889 it was in the possession of Colonel
de Lancey, and is now in the Hennin collection, Bibliothèque Nationale,
Paris.
The fan in the Wyatt collection, elaborately pierced, painted, and
gilt, has three medallions finely painted in the style of Cosway, with
two small medallions of heads on the guards. The connecting ribbon
is green, the general colour effect being extremely good. The fan
opens out to a third of a circle, the length of the blades 10 inches.
(Illustrated facing p. 182.)
The leaf-fan belonging to Mrs. Hungerford Pollen, of the taking of
Malta, refers to the surrender of the island to the British by General
Vaubois, the act being signed and concluded on the 5th September 1800.
The subject is on a large cartouche, occupying three-fourths of the
leaf, the background representing a streamer of lace.
During the period of the Napoleonic wars, a number of French prisoners
were installed in England at Norman Cross near Peterborough, Porchester
Castle, and Edinburgh Castle, and during their confinement introduced
the process of straw marquetry, which had been practised on the
Continent since the time of Henry III., and possibly earlier. Boxes,
trays, decorative pictures, nick-nacks, and hand-screens were made.
Towards the end of the eighteenth century straw plaiting became vastly
fashionable, and straw was adopted for hats, ribbons, plumes, girdles,
and tassels. The fan was not behindhand, but followed the prevailing
taste.
Several of these objects appear in the Victoria and Albert Museum,
amongst them being two hand-screens with plaited views.
The fashion lasted well into the nineteenth century, when an extensive
manufacture was also carried on in India (Bengal) for exportation to
Europe. This chiefly consisted of hand-screens of the pear-shaped gourd
type, rush being the material employed.
[Illustration: OSTRICH FEATHER FOLDING-FAN
(From the portrait group by Van Loon at Amsterdam.)]
The people of the Netherlands have been famous, from the Middle Ages
onwards, for the splendour of their costumes. We have an account of
Jane of Navarre, wife of Philippe le Bel, who, upon the occasion
of a visit to Bruges in 1301, was so much struck by the pomp and
magnificence displayed by the inhabitants, particularly the ladies,
that she exclaimed, ‘What do I see! I thought I alone was Queen, but
here I find them by whole hundreds.’
The fact that fans were largely used in the Low Countries during the
sixteenth and seventeenth centuries is evidenced by the frequency of
their appearance in painted and engraved representation. In the ‘Omnium
pene Europæ, Asiæ, Aphricæ, atque Americæ Gentium habitus,’ engraved by
A. de Bruÿn, and published at Antwerp in 1581, nine years anterior to
the earliest edition of Vecellio, the long-handled plumed fan appears
in the hands of a Belgian lady; the shorter-handled tuft-fan is also
carried by noble ladies of England and France. In the works of the
great Flemish painters, Vandyck and Rubens, the rigid feather-fan
constantly occurs.
[Illustration: An Offering to Ceres, stick ivory painted with a rustic
scene. German or Dutch, 21” × 11”. From Queen Victoria’s collection.
H.R.H. Princess Louise, Duchess of Argyll.]
In the engraving by ‘J. Côyens et C. Mortier,’ of the family of
Frederick and Elizabeth, King and Queen of Bohemia, the young Princess
Louysa holds a dark ostrich feather-fan with a mirror in the centre.
In the large portrait group by Van Loon at Amsterdam, of the family
of Jan Miense Molenaer, a lady holds a folding-fan of white ostrich
feathers, the wavy ivory sticks numbering five; in the same picture
another lady holds a small rigid feather-fan composed of the feathers
of one of the smaller birds.
In the engraved work by de Bruÿn above referred to, the large
folding-fan appears constantly, though not in the hands of the
Netherlandish ladies; the fashion of the fan was, however,
substantially the same in most countries of Europe. Painted mounts
appeared early, and were also large; the extremely interesting mount
in the possession of the Dowager-Marchioness of Bristol being probably
one of the earliest existing Dutch examples. The subject evidently
refers to one of the Dutch settlements in the East Indies, probably
the town of Batavia, built by the Dutch in the early years of the
seventeenth century. Here is represented a quay, where merchandise
(mostly fruits and fish) is being landed from boats, and on which
buying and selling is taking place. In the background are buildings
of a European character, with a volcanic range of mountains in the
distance. A high-masted vessel is moored in the bay, and is partially
seen behind the buildings. In the immediate foreground are two
cannon-balls mounted on low pedestals. The long veils and other details
of costume are similar to those worn by the Dutch during the first half
of the century, seen in contemporary engravings; the remarkable peaked,
plaited straw-hats are practically identical with those made by the
natives of the Malay Archipelago. The leaf, which has been removed from
the stick and stretched upon a frame, is painted in gouache or paper,
probably a little later.
Of subject fans, historical or fanciful, that illustrated from the
collection of Miss Moss (Antony and Cleopatra) is amongst the most
charming in its quaint _naïveté_, and is almost certainly Dutch.
The Queen is about to dissolve the pearl, which she exhibits to the
astonished Antony and the serving-woman beside her. Cooks in the
foreground prepare the dishes, while servitors carry them to the table.
An old-fashioned chimney-corner is seen on the left, with fire-dogs and
pot hanging. Music is provided by harpsichord, lute, and fiddle. The
costume is of a nondescript character, Antony wearing an extraordinary
plumed helmet, the Queen in ermined cloak, both having diadems. The
mount, of skin, is particularly pleasant in colour quality, and
probably belongs to the last years of the seventeenth century. The
stick and guards of a later date. A still finer example, similar in the
character of the painting, though of a somewhat later date, is the fan
illustrated by gracious permission of H.R.H. Princess Louise, Duchess
of Argyll, facing page 1; this was the gift of the Duke of Coburg to
Princess Victoria (afterwards Queen) in 1836, from the collection of
fans at Gotha. These two fan leaves, as also Lady Bristol’s, may be
accepted as original productions, _i.e._ the work of artists possessing
some inventive power, rather than, as in the case of so many fan
leaves, mere transcripts of well-known pictures.
An extremely interesting type of mount has a large vignette, usually of
two figures, occupying the centre, or the whole field of the fan. In
these fans the sticks are of carved ivory, often strongly reminiscent
of Chinese design, or having costume figures of the character with
which we are familiar in early woodcuts. Two examples in the Wyatt
collection represent pastoral groups, extremely good in style, the
colour scheme being most effective.
[Illustration: Dutch Fan, Ivory stick, carved, painted, & gilt. Mrs
Davies-Gilbert.]
[Illustration: Dutch Fan, ‘Pagoda’ stick, applied straw work on leaf.
Mr L. C. R. Messel.]
In the treatment of the mount the Dutch invariably followed the
practice of Italy and France. Many were painted in the Chinese taste,
some in imitation of the finer fans of China. The sticks of these
were usually of pierced ivory. An excellent example in the Wyatt
collection shows in the centre compartment the garden of a Chinese
house, with seated figures and visitors arriving. A panel on the right
represents an astronomer making observations, and on the left is a
fight between men in boats on a river. A capital effect is obtained
in this fan by means of line work in gold, this being particularly
effective over the blue water in the boat scene.
The fan illustrated facing page 198 is interesting from the cut-work
of the mount, an imitation of the cut-work Italian fans of the
seventeenth century; in this instance, the pattern is produced by means
of stamping, done before the leaf is painted. The stick and guards are
extremely effective, and are of ivory, pierced, carved, painted and
gilt.
Flemish fans are often decorated with subjects from Scripture history;
as Jacob and Rachel, Abraham entertaining the three Angels, scenes
from the lives of Elijah, Ruth, and Boaz; these evidently for use at
church. A fine example of the end of the seventeenth century appeared
at the Walker sale in 1882, and passed into the Franks collection. This
is a crowded composition of the passage of the Israelites through the
Red Sea; the stick of plain ivory, the guards carved with figures of
Bellona.
The subject of Rinaldo in the Garden of Armida also occurs on a fan in
the Wyatt collection, the mount chicken skin, the style and colouring
that of the later Roman school of painting. The stick and guards of
ivory, carved with scroll-work and figures, the date about 1700.
Embroidery was also employed. An unusual example, the method scarcely
to be commended on account of the weight, is also in the Wyatt
collection, with a naturalistic landscape and figures, the embroidered
work covering the whole field of the fan, and consequently rendering it
heavy both in appearance and actual weight. The stick and guards are
tortoise-shell, pierced and embossed with gold, probably of a later
date than the mount, which may be put at _c._ 1650.
The method of painting upon ivory, with a subsequent covering of
varnish, if indeed it was not anticipated by the Dutch, was practised
in Holland concurrently with the brothers Martin in France. It was
an instance in which a new departure or fresh invention occurred
simultaneously in several places, but whether the Dutch, Italians, or
French were the first in the field with this method of decoration, it
is certain that the varnish was perfected by Martin.
The ivory brisé fans of the Dutch were, like the French, small in
size, and at the end of the seventeenth century, says Redgrave, were
frequently imported into Paris and decorated in ‘Vernis Martin.’ In a
most effective type of fan, the plain cream white of the ivory forms
part of the decorative scheme; three medallions, one large and two
small, of landscapes with figures in the foreground, form the sole
decorations; the ivory background, the green connecting ribbon, and the
prevailing blues and greens of the panels, constitute a most pleasant
harmony. These fans usually open out to a little more than a quarter of
a circle. An example appears in the Wyatt collection.
In another type, the plain ivory sticks are painted in the Chinese
taste, the fans slightly larger than those previously referred
to. In some, purely Chinese _motifs_ are employed; in others, a
semi-naturalistic arrangement of flowers and festoons is associated
with the Martin type of decoration on the guards and lower semicircle
of the fan.
In an extremely interesting fan in the Wyatt collection, this principle
is carried further by the introduction of three medallions of single
figures—a man with a cask of wine on his back, holding a lantern and
goblet, and two female figures of flower- and fruit-sellers; the guards
and lower semicircle in the Chinese taste, the blades connected by a
green ribbon.
Perhaps the prettiest and most characteristic of the Dutch ivory fans
are those in which the blades are cut in fine open work, and a border
of from 1-1/2 to 2 inches, delicately painted with flowers, fruit,
birds, and butterflies.
[Illustration: German Fan, the gift of H.R.H the Prince Consort to
Queen Victoria, painted with medallions of dancers &c. ivory stick,
carved, gilt, & painted with miniatures. 21” × 10-3/4”.
H.R.H Princess Louise, Duchess of Argyll.]
[Illustration: Pastorelle, German, stick finely carved with figures,
canopies &c. given by the Prince Consort to Queen Victoria from the
collection of Fans at Gotha.]
[Illustration: Pastorelle, French or German. Landesgewerbe Museum
Stuttgart.]
In some instances the principal portions of the decoration are of thin
ivory applied and afterwards painted.
In these fans the connecting silk ribbon is usually white, and placed
immediately below the painted border, instead of on the edge. This
arrangement allows the ends of the blades to be rounded or otherwise
ornamented.
Sandalwood is pierced and painted in a similar way to ivory,
forget-me-nots being a favourite _motif_ for the decoration, first
on account of their suitability of sentiment—as love-gifts—and also
by reason of the blue of the flower harmonising with the colour of
the sandalwood. In some examples the background of this forget-me-not
wreath or border is pierced, the connecting ribbon being also blue of a
slightly different tint to the flowers.
The horn-fans are either pierced entirely in flat open work, or
painting is employed as an additional enrichment, both sides of the
fan being usually decorated with garlands in gouache. A pretty fan in
the Wyatt collection has five heart-shaped garlands with the colour
of the flowers alternately red and pink, the light-blue connecting
ribbon forming a very effective contrast to the natural colour of the
horn; indeed the connecting ribbon in each instance forms a decorative
feature, the colours being of pink, blue, brown, or white, as the
colour scheme demands. The horn is either of its natural colour, or
stained to various hues, generally saffron.
There are also the small fans decorated with spangles, much in vogue
both in Holland and elsewhere towards the close of the eighteenth
century and later. The mounts are of white gauze or net, decorated with
pierced and cut steel ornaments and spangles, embroidered with gold
thread and braid, the stick and guards usually of stained horn inlaid
with steel.
A charming example of the small spangled Dutch fan is of silk, with
an inserted band of gauze ornamented with silver spangles and stamped
silver ornaments, the stick and guards of horn with inserted spangles.
Dutch sticks often present qualities which are remarkable and unusual,
the curious example owned by Mr. Messel being a case in point. This, by
a device at once simple, ingenious, and effective, is made to resemble,
when closed, a Chinese pagoda, and is probably an imitation of a
Chinese original. The leaf is of small interest, being poorly painted
in the Chinese taste; the costumes of the figures are, however, of
applied straw of various colours.
The practice of carving the edges of the closed stick with figures,
heads, or ornament, though not confined to the Dutch, was employed
by them to perhaps a greater extent than in other countries. The
curious example in the possession of Sir L. Alma-Tadema, showing a
well-carved head at the handle, presents interest at either front,
side, or back view of the closed fan. The leaf also of this fan, no
less than the stick, presents points of exceptional interest, and
represents two figures of a botanist and lady seated in a garden laid
out with fountains, etc., a villa in the distance, and possibly refers
to Linnæus, and either the villa of Harmanby, about a league from
Upsala, which he used as a summer residence and converted into a little
university, his pupils following him thither, or the Queen’s gardens at
Ulriksdal, near Stockholm, arranged by the illustrious botanist.
The great traditional school of German design has never affected the
fan, nor is it desirable that it should; though a _plumed_ fan, or, for
that matter, a _folding_ one, designed by a Dürer would indeed be a
precious possession.
German fans present no characteristics peculiar to the Teutonic race;
the type is French, tinctured perhaps by a certain heaviness of effect,
lacking the light, dainty touch of the French. A few, however, reach a
high level of excellence, and compare favourably with the best French
workmanship, notably an early example, illustrated, which appeared
at the Exhibition at South Kensington in 1870, given to H.M. Queen
Victoria by H.R.H. the Prince Consort, from the collection of fans
at Gotha. In this the mount is vellum painted with a pastorelle,
the stick of ivory, carved with a series of miniature figures under
canopies, coloured, and gilt. The guards are extremely curious, being
cylindrical in shape, the lower segment fluted, the shoulder carved
with arabesques, and surmounted by small heads.
[Illustration: Telemachus. German, c.1750. stick mother of pearl,
carved, gilt. & painted.
Kunstgewerbe-Museum, Berlin.]
[Illustration: Love’s Mirror. German, c.1760. Kunstgewerbe-Museum,
Berlin.]
Another fine example (illustrated facing p. 4), from the collection of
H.R.H. the Princess Louise, Duchess of Argyll, was also the gift of the
Prince Consort to Queen Victoria, and is decorated with a series of
medallions of dancing figures, etc.
A type of fan, apparently peculiar to Germany, common during the
eighteenth century, has painted subjects cut out and laid on lace or
net, a kind of painting appliqué, the effect extremely good. An example
decorated with pastoral groups was exhibited at South Kensington by
H.R.H. Madame la Comtesse de Paris; the stick ivory, carved _à jour_,
with figures laid on gold-foil; the foliage, etc., coloured. This was
bought in Dresden about 1860. A fan similar in character, the date
about 1765, was exhibited at Karlsruhe in 1890.
‘If the fans of the eighteenth century,’ says Mr. H. F. Holt,[130]
‘yielded in grace and elegance to those of the sixteenth, they
certainly (upon occasion) exceeded them in richness and magnificence,
the materials used being often costly Flanders lace, the handles
splendidly ornamented and inlaid with jewels. As the climax, however,
of costly magnificence,’ continues this writer, ‘I will conclude with a
description of the fan of the Duchess of York, who, shortly after her
arrival in England, displayed a pleated fan entirely of diamonds, with
an ivory stick pierced and set with diamonds in a mosaic pattern; the
outside ones were set with a single row of diamonds, whilst very large
brilliants fastened the fan at the bottom.’
The eighteenth century was indeed, _par excellence_, the era of the
fan, which was to be seen in the hands of every woman, from princess to
peasant.
CHAPTER IX
ENGRAVED FANS OF THE SEVENTEENTH AND EIGHTEENTH CENTURIES. PART I
[Illustration]
The practice of engraving fans, begun tentatively in Italy by Agostino
Carracci in the latter half of the sixteenth century, and in France by
Callot somewhat later, did not become general until the close of the
century that followed, although two names—those of Abraham Bosse and
Nicholas Loire—stand out prominently during this interval.
The engraving of Carracci referred to in an early chapter of this work,
and illustrated opposite, must be regarded as merely a design for a
fan, serving no other purpose apparently, in its engraved form, than
as a record of a type of fan now practically obsolete, and of which no
examples in their complete or original state remain to us.
The earliest engraved fans take the form of the hand-screens in general
use in Italy and elsewhere at this period. Of these, the engraving
known as ‘l’éventail de Callot,’ much sought after by iconophilists,
was produced in the year 1619, and is one of the most esteemed plates
of the master. The subject is a fête or carnival on the Arno, given
at Florence on the 25th of July of that year by the Corporations of
Weavers and Dyers, the whole subject being enclosed in a characteristic
cartouche, on the lower portion of which the name ‘Jacomo Callot fec.’
appears.
[Illustration: Engraved design for Feather Fan, by Agostino Caracci.
Hand Screen, by C.F. Hörman.]
[Illustration: Schreiber Coll^n. British Museum.]
Two states of this engraving are known. The first, before the
inscription on the ribbon and the name on the cartouche, being
extremely rare.[131]
Callot has been credited with a second fan, which also takes the form
of a cartouche of similar shape to the first mentioned. The subject is
a dance in a garden—six persons are seen dancing a minuet before an
assembled company. This engraving, however, is rightly ascribed by the
best authorities to Stefano della Bella.
This subject was imitated and amplified by Nicolas Cochin the elder,
the composition rearranged, a larger number of figures introduced, with
a different and more elaborate background, the cartouche being similar.
Cochin also produced a subject of the Triumph of David, who is
represented on horseback, sword in hand, with the head of Goliath, the
cartouche copied from Callot, inscribed ‘Balthasar Montcornet, ex Cum
privilegio a paris.’
Another of these engraved hand-screens consists of a frame composed of
two large eagles, with the arms of Austria and Medicis, enclosing a
view of the Villa Reale near Florence, freely etched in the manner of
Israel Silvestre.
A set of four hand-screens was engraved by Christopher Fredr. Hörman;
prints of Nos. 3 and 4 appear in the British Museum collection. No. 3
is included in Lady Charlotte Schreiber’s book, No. 4 being reproduced
here. The subjects are ballet dancers in fantastic costume, accompanied
by, in each instance, a figure playing a musical instrument.
The distinguished French engraver, Abraham Bosse (born 1602, died
1676), engraved three fans during the years 1637-38, much valued by
collectors. The ornament of these, designed in a florid Renaissance
style, consists of amorini, masks, festoons, etc., enclosing medallions
of mythological subjects—the first being the birth of Adonis, Venus
and Adonis, and the death of Adonis; the second—the Judgment of Paris,
a Cupid drawing his bow, and a Cupid with a crown; the third—the four
ages: of gold, silver, bronze, and iron.
No examples of these engravings appear in the British Museum
collection. A print of the Judgment of Paris is in the Bibliothèque
Nationale, but permission to reproduce it could not be obtained.
The title-page of Nicholas Loire’s work, _Desseins de grands
Éventails_, appears in the Schreiber collection, together with
six engravings from the work. This title-page, by far the most
characteristic design of the series, takes the form of a folding-fan,
full size. Its subject is an arabesque, composed of a droll with cap
and bells playing a guitar, and two fantastic dancing figures on
an ornamental festooned platform supported by the wings of female
terminals; cornucopia, amorini, vases and flowers serve to complete the
composition. It is inscribed: ‘Divers Desseins de grands Eventails,
Ecrans, et autres Ornamens, Inventés et Gravés par Nicholas Loire, A
Paris chez Jombert rue Dauphin, No. 56,’ and signed ‘Loire fecit.’
The designs, which measure eight inches, are evidently intended to form
the central subjects of fans, to be completed and coloured by hand.
They include ‘The Judgment of Paris,’ enclosed in a cartouche with
Cupids, fruit, etc.; an eastern goddess, seated under a canopy, the
drapery of which is sustained by two serving-men; Isaac and Rebekah;
The finding of Moses; Venus; and Europa.
[Illustration: A Fête on the Arno. (Éventail de Callot.) British Museum]
The topical fan, having reference to royal and distinguished
personages, or recording public events, was entirely the product
of the eighteenth century. It was, broadly speaking, born with the
century, and died with it. During this period, the engraved fan became
a purveyor of history, a kind of running commentary on the affairs of
the hour. It was the fan of the people—the poor relation of the more
aristocratic painted fan. ‘Ill drawn, roughly modelled, and often
vilely bedaubed,’ says Henri Bouchot in his entertaining ‘History on
Fans,’[132] ‘its genesis is not hard to determine; its fathers were
Callot and Abraham Bosse, and its mothers the coquettes of the _grand
siècle_.’ We shall, therefore, lightly, though perhaps somewhat too
swiftly, traverse the fascinating period above indicated, with this
sprightly annotator for guide, which finds amusement in ‘Malbrouk’
and his mock burial, follows Stanislaus into his enforced retirement
in Alsace, alternately sympathises with and mocks at the woes of the
unfortunate Louis and his family, with apparent careless nonchalance
records the chief scenes of the reign of terror, celebrates the amazing
triumphs, and witnesses the ultimate defeat of Napoleon.
Naval and military events, for reasons which will be sufficiently
obvious, play a comparatively unimportant part in French fan
decoration. ‘Malbrouk’ (Marlborough) is, however, lampooned in three
scenes from the popular song of ‘Malbrouk,’ said to have been composed
on the night after the battle of Malplaquet, September 11, 1709, and a
plagiarism of a Huguenot song on the death of the Duc de Guise,[133]
written by Théodore de Bèze and published by the Abbé de la Place in
his collection of fragments, the first verse of which runs as follows:
‘Qui veut ouïr chanson? (bis)
C’est du Grand Duc de Guise;
Et bon bon bon bon,
Di dan di dan don.
C’est du Grand due de Guise!
_Qui est mort et enterré.’_
‘Malbrouk’ provided the subject of several fans, the most popular
versions giving three vignettes. In the centre his tomb inscribed ‘Ci
Git Malbrouk,’ guarded by four soldiers. Below are portions of the
thirteenth and fourteenth verses:
‘A l’entour de sa tombe
Romarin l’on planta.’
‘Sur la plus haute branche
Le rossignol chanta.’
On the left, his departure, Madame taking an affectionate leave; below:
‘Malbrouk s’en va-t-en guerre.’
On the right, the tower, Madame with telescope, page bringing news of
Malbrouk’s death; below, a portion of fourth verse:
‘Madame à sa tour monte
Si haut qu’elle peut monter.’
On the back of the fan are nineteen verses of the song with music, and
the refrain: ‘Miron, ton-ton-ton-miron.’
An example appears in Miss Moss’s collection, with the reverse only
engraved, the obverse painted in gouache on skin, the stick ivory,
pierced and carved.
Several versions of the engraved fan are extant—one with similar
arrangements to that above described, and the Histoire de Malbrouk in
thirty-one verses on the back. A second has, for centre, Malbrouk’s
body carried by soldiers; on the left, Madame on tower, page bringing
news, both in tears; on the right the tomb, ten verses from the second
part of the song, filling the field of the fan. On a third, in the
centre, Malbrouk taking leave; on the left, page bringing news of his
death; on the right, the tomb; on the reverse, the verses of the song,
with music, and the refrain:
‘Miron ton-ton-ton-mirontaine.’
The fan of ‘La Coquette,’ with those of ‘la Belle Chanteuse’ and ‘le
Galant,’ and portraits of Babet the flower-girl (a popular character of
the period), were issued by the dealer Crépy and sold by the score to
the frequenters of the theatre.
[Illustration: Grotesque Fan, in imitation of Callot, French or Dutch,
17th Cent. Bibliothèque Nationale.]
La Coquette herself, with her _paniers_ occupying nearly a third of
the fan, demurely takes her tea. She is, doubtless, the sister of
Mademoiselle Alluré, who dances to the music of a viola, while the
small half-opened fan, the fan within the fan, sings:
‘Voilà un éventaille mon cousin,
De plaisante figure.
Admiré son dessin, mon cousin,
Mais non pas la peinture,
Elle est à l’allure, mon cousin,
Mon cousin à l’allure!’
The half-opened fan of ‘La Coquette’ is also provided with a subject of
which, perhaps, the less said the better:
‘Cette Evantail est magnifique
Mais defectueux en cela.
Que pour la mettre en musique
Il faut dire un sol, la, mi, la. (Un sot l’a mis là!)’
The peasant girl, with her panier on hip and panier on arm, is also a
coquette; ‘Je vais en Vendange remplir mon Panier,’ says she, the sort
of vintage the cunning Margot hopes for being sufficiently obvious,
even without the love-knot that loops the frame of the miniature with
its accompanying legend, ‘J’ay bien des camarades sur la place,’ and
the knave of diamonds standing hard by.
The ‘little air’ with its explanatory picture says:
‘Je voudrois bien Liset-te
Au son de ma musett-te
Je voudrois bien Liset-te
Charmer vôtre langueur;
Que faittes vous seulette
Assis dessus l’herbette
Vôtre ame est inquiette.
Qui peut Causer vôtre langueur
Au son de ma muset-te
Je voudrois bien Liset-te.’
A pictorial rebus (referring to ‘l’éventail magnifique’), a game board,
a harlequin, and a billet-doux (N’oubliez pas le porteur) complete the
composition; the whole being an instance of the Parisian’s insatiable
love of badinage. Printed in Paris in 1734.
In _Le bal des Nations_, the several countries are figured as pretty
women at a costume ball; this representing the fan’s comment on the
declaration of war with the Emperor Charles VI. Each of the actors of
the piece delivers a song, the words of which are printed round the top
of the fan. La France sings:
‘Je suis certaine
De bien cabrioler,
Rien ne me gêne,
Je veux me signaler.
Je connais mes appas;
Sur tout j’aurai le pas,
D’un beau boquet parée,
Que Charles detacha
De sa livrée.’
La France is followed by L’Espagne, La Sardaigne, L’Italie,
L’Allemagne, La Saxe, La Russie, La Pologne, La Turquie, La Hollande
and L’Angleterre. The air, (le Bel Age), printed on the fan.
Events failed to bear out the fan’s predictions. The news of the defeat
of Stanislaus was carefully concealed from Queen Marie, the king
causing a special copy of the _Gazette_ to be printed announcing her
father’s successes.
The queen, however, remained in ignorance but a short while; the fan,
the popular newspaper of the period, very speedily announced—‘Capture
of Dantzic by the Russians, unconditional surrender.’ The
picture—Stanislaus escaping through a gateway with his band of mounted
followers.
[Illustration: The Four Ages. Abraham Bosse]
‘Malbrouk’ crops up again towards the middle of the century; the
folly of ‘Pantins’[134] and Bilboquets had been superseded by le
‘fureur de cabriolets,’ to be in turn driven away by ‘Malbrouk.’ ‘Une
Folie chasse l’autre’ exhibits ‘Malbrouk’ fully equipped with sword and
buckler, issuing from a tent held open by a fool in cap and motley,
driving away figures of a woman playing bilboquet, a dancing abbé with
Pantin, a cabaret-keeper, and a man with flag and lantern.
To the air of ‘Chacun à son Tour,’ the fan sings:
‘Un rien suffit pour nous séduire
La nouvauté par son attrait
Nous enflame jusqu’au delire
Nous fait en rire on à tout fait
Et chez notre nation volage
Malbrouk est le Héros du jour.
Chacun à son Tour
C’est notre usage
Chacun à son tour.
Au Bilboquet Pantin succede
Pantin fuit devant Ramponeau
l’Elégant Ramponeau ne cede
Que pour faire place à Janot
La Folie qui nous guide à tout âge
Amene Malbourg en ce jour.
Chacun à son tour, etc.’
We have also a satire on the separation of America from England, who
is represented as a cow, with America in the act of sawing off its
horns; Holland milking it; Spain waiting to receive the milk. A lion
representing England has lost its right paw. To the left ‘Jacques
Rosbif’ and a companion in despairing attitudes, with the deed of
separation and a bale of goods labelled ‘TEE.’ The whole scene is being
witnessed by a group of figures representing the Powers of Europe,
with a paper inscribed ‘Époque fatale. 4 Juillet, 1776, & le 13 Mar.
1778.’ On the reverse the ‘Explication de l’emblème’ as—
1. ‘La Vache & le Lion sont le symbole de l’Angleterre.’
2. ‘La Corne qu’on a sciée à la Vache, la Patte qu’on a coupée au
Lion, & la tranquillité de ces Animaux désignent la foiblesse &
l’épuisement actuels de la Nation,’ etc.[135]
The capture of Granada by the French fleet under the Comte d’Estaing,
in 1799, is commemorated, the fan illustrating the sea-fight between
French and English ships.
The fortunes of the ill-fated Louis Seize and his beautiful consort are
followed to the final tragedy of 1793 with its momentous consequences.
We have seen how the good citizens of Dieppe celebrated the joyful
occasion of the birth of the dauphin by the gift to the queen-mother
of a precious fan of carved ivory. On the more humble printed fan,
Immortality, amid a great concourse of people, with fireworks and
illuminations in the background, presents the royal infant on a
cushion, to kneeling, admiring, and devoted France, who offers a basket
of hearts. The inscription, ‘Le Dauphin présenté par l’immortalité, la
France saisie d’admiration offre pour hommage à son Prince chéri les
cœurs unis et respectueux de ses fidèles sujets.’
Again the fan sings the birth of the dauphin; in this the royal infant,
in leading-strings, advances to meet the king, his father, who is
standing near. Above, a genius floats in the air, with a wreath and two
shields of arms bearing fleurs-de-lys and two dolphins. On either side
are verses entitled ‘Chanson sur la Naissance du Dauphin. Air, de la
Pantoufle.’
[Illustration: Title Page of Nicolas Loire’s ‘Desseins des grands
Eventails.’
Schreiber Coll^n. British Museum.]
[Illustration: La Coquette. Bibliothèque Nationale.]
‘Vénus, en ce jour,
Comble nos cœurs d’allégresse
Vénus en ce jour
Donne naissance à l’amour,
François chérissons,
Et donnons notre tendresse
François chérissons
Cet auguste rejetton,’ etc.
The song of ‘Malbrouk’ came once again into fashion in 1782. It was
sung by the nurse to the infant dauphin, and hence became one of
the favourite tunes of Marie-Antoinette. Beaumarchais introduced it
into _Le Mariage de Figaro_ in 1784, the piece having been privately
performed before the king at Versailles, the queen taking the part
of Suzanne. ‘Malbrouk,’ say the authors of the _Mémoires Secrets de
Bachaumont_, ‘has become the hero of every fashion—to-day everything
is “à la Malbrouk”—ribbons, head-dresses, waistcoats, above all,
_hats_ “à la Malbrouk,” and one sees all the ladies, either walking in
the streets, on the promenade, or at the play, “rigged out” in this
grotesque couvre-chef.’
Most things mundane, however, come to an end sooner or later—even the
star of Malbrouk, in its turn, is eclipsed:
‘Malbrouck n’a plus d’empire,
Les beaux jours sont passés,
Ce guerrier a fait rire
Les gens les plus sensés,
Mais changeant de méthode
Au gré de nos sçavans,
Chacun se prend de mode
Pour les globes mouvants!’
On a fine evening at the end of August 1783, the peasants of Gonesse
were astonished by a ‘bolt from the blue’ in the shape of Professor
Charles’s balloon. ‘What is it?’ they exclaim—‘some strange demon,
or a visitant from Mars.’ The machine, which had no occupant, King
Louis having objected to a man risking his neck, only escaped
destruction by the interference of the parish priest. Here, surely,
was an opportunity for the fan, by which, as a matter of fact, it was
not slow in profiting. Balloon-fans became at once the mode, and ‘La
Mode’ appropriated the balloon; hats ‘au ballon,’ everything—dresses,
ribbons, even hair, ‘au ballon.’
On December 1st of the same year, MM. Charles and Robert made their
ascent in the gardens of the Tuileries. We therefore have a fan
representing the departure of ‘les deux intrépides,’ with a group
of spectators, among whom are two members of the Royal House, ‘des
seigneurs _quantité_.’ On the reverse, two lines of music and five
stanzas of verse, of which the first runs as follows:
‘De l’aerostatique sphère
françois admirez la splandeur
voyez sa forme circulaire
coup seé par un Equateur
ensélevant elle présente
le sigue qui nous attendrit
c’est la maison interessante (bis)
des gemeaux quelle nous ravit.’
There was an echo in England. An illustration of the event forms the
centre subject of a fan in the Schreiber collection. On the left,
Biaggini’s Air Balloon is about to ascend; and on the right, The Fall
of ye Balloon, the confused mass being viewed with curiosity by three
rustics.
In the following March, M. Blanchard made his ascent in his balloon
with four rudders; the event duly recorded on a fan inscribed ‘La
Phisico Mécanique Ou le Vaisseau Volant de Mr. Blanchard.’ The song of
four stanzas, ‘Oh parbleu voici du plaisant. Vive la Phisique,’ etc.
[Illustration: Taking of the Bastille, 1789.
Schreiber Coll^n British Museum.]
[Illustration: Duc d’Orléans.
Miss Moss.]
There were painted as well as engraved balloon-fans—with a centre
medallion of two fair damsels viewing ‘sa forme circulaire,’ a smaller
medallion of a balloon on either side, the field of the fan in the
glitter of stars, spangles, and dotted ornaments.
Thus Carlyle, with his characteristic _double entente_, philosophising
on these events: ‘Beautiful invention; mounting heavenward, so
beautifully,—so unguidably! Emblem of much, and of our Age of Hope
itself; which shall mount, specifically-light, majestically in this
same manner; and hover,—tumbling whither Fate will. Well if it do not,
Pilâtre-like, explode; and _de_mount all the more tragically!—So,
riding on windbags, will men scale the Empyrean.’
The comments of the Parisian wits were of a different order to the
caustic satire of Carlyle: in the engraving by Sargent, which appeared
in all the glory of printed colour, a learned but absent-minded
physicist, instead of inflating his silken globes, inflates himself
with the result that he disappeared through the window. ‘Mon pauvre
oncle,’ exclaims a young man who exhibits the extreme of grief and
despair. A fan leaf ‘à l’oncle’ appears in the Bibliothèque Nationale,
having been removed from a mount. Wright, _Caricature History of the
Georges_, note, p. 545, says: ‘The ascents in France during the year
1784 were very numerous, and excited interest even in England.’
Horace Walpole, writing from London on May 7 of the following year,
says: ‘Of conversation, the chief topic is air-balloons; a French
girl, daughter of a dancer, has made a voyage into the clouds, and was
in danger of falling to earth, and being _ship wrecked_. Three more
balloons sail to-day; in short, we shall have a prodigious navy in the
air, and then what signifies having lost the empire of the ocean?’
Beaumarchais’ comedy, _Le Mariage de Figaro_, upon its production in
Paris in 1784, immediately became the rage, and enjoyed its successful
run of a ‘hundred nights.’ Its story supplied the ‘book’ for Mozart’s
opera, which had been ‘commanded’ by the Emperor (Joseph II.) of
Germany. This work, first produced in Vienna at the time when Italian
opposition to German opera as represented by Gluck and Mozart waxed
fiercest, failed, being so indifferently performed under the direction
of Salieri, the head of the opposing faction. At Prague, however, where
it was subsequently given, and which was outside the influence of
Salieri, it was completely successful, a circumstance which afforded
Mozart so much satisfaction that he declared that he would write an
opera for the good people of Prague, and thereupon produced _Don
Giovanni_!
While the Italian opposition to Mozart’s music was so pronounced,
the feeling of antagonism was by no means reciprocated by the great
Salzburg composer, who wrote a number of variations to airs by Sarti,
Paisiello, and Salieri. The beautiful series of variations on the air
‘Mio Caro Adone’ from Salieri’s opera, _La fiera ai Venezia_, was
composed in 1773, the opera appearing in Vienna a year previously.
Two Figaro fans appear in the Schreiber collection, British Museum, the
one with a single medallion in the centre, with scene from the play,
and four stanzas of verse commencing ‘Jadis on voioit Thalie,’ etc.;
the other with a centre medallion and two smaller ones, and thirteen
stanzas of verse commencing ‘Cœurs sensibles, cœurs fidelles,’ etc.,
with music. Inscribed at the top—‘Vaudeville du Mariage de Figaro.’
Beaumarchais collaborated with Salieri in the opera of _Tarare_, first
produced in Paris in 1787. He claimed to have led the way to the
Revolution by this piece, which formed the subject of several fans.
Three scenes from Grétry’s opera of _Richard, Cœur de Lion_, first
produced in 1784, and performed the following year before the king and
queen at Fontainebleau, appear on a fan, the costumes being of the
period of the production of the opera, the ladies wearing the hooped
petticoat, with long streamers from their heads. On the reverse, two
songs commencing ‘Que le Sultan Saladin,’ and ‘La Danse n’est pas ce
que j’aime.’ The song ‘O Richard, O mon Roi, l’univers t’abandonne,’
which, however, does not appear on the fan, became of historic
importance at Versailles, October 1, 1789.
Other operatic fans commemorate ‘_Nina ou la Folle par Amour_’
and ‘_Raoul de Créqui_’ by Dalayrac, produced in 1786 and 1789
respectively. The first named has a single scene with four figures in
the centre of the fan, and verses headed ‘Romance de Nina, Chantée par
Mme. Dugazon.’ The second much more elaborate, with one large and two
smaller panels, verses and music from the opera on the back of the fan.
Three scenes from Dezède’s _Alcidor_, produced 1787, commemorate
an opera of which both composer and music are now forgotten. The
decorations are etched and rudely coloured by hand; the sticks walnut,
inlaid with ivory.
Three hand-screens appeared with a scene from the first, second, and
third acts respectively of _Fanchon La Vielleuse_, a French version of
Himmel and Kotzebue’s operetta, _Fanchon, das Leyermädchen_, produced
at Berlin in 1805. These testify to the transient popularity of a now
almost forgotten composer. The screens are of cardboard, coloured
grey-brown, shield-shaped, having an oval medallion engraved in line
and coloured by hand. On the reverse, extracts from the libretto.
Of plays we have an illustration of a scene from Voltaire’s tragedy of
_Brutus_, first produced in Paris in 1730, and revived in 1790, the
names of the several characters inscribed below the figures.
On another fan, three scenes from Chénier’s play of _Charles IX. ou
l’École des Rois_, which appeared in Paris in 1789. On the reverse, a
long quotation from the second scene of the third act.
An adventure of Philippe-Égalité, Duc d’Orléans, provided the subject
of several fans. The story is related at length upon a fan which shows
the interior of a cottage where the Duke, during a walk near Bency, in
January 1786, had stopped to ask for a breakfast. The peasant’s wife
was at the point of childbirth, and was actually delivered whilst the
unknown prince ‘que la France admire’ ate his frugal meal of bread and
cheese. With his natural bonhomie he proposed himself as godfather,
and only at the signing of the register he disclosed his identity by
exhibiting his ‘cordon-bleu.’
A fan in the Schreiber collection shows the interior of a parish
church, with the prince standing as sponsor. The inscription, ‘Couplets
dédiés à S.A.S. Monseigneur le Duc d’Orléans.’
‘Admirons son noble courage,
Son Joquet se trouve en danger,
Ce Héros se jette à la nage,
Rien ne lui paroit étranger.
* * * * *
Exaltons le Prince fait homme
Célébrons ses nobles vertus
Et qu’en tous lieux on le renom̃e
Comme on a renom̃é Titus,
fin.’
The assembly of notables is duly recorded. We see majesty enthroned
with a royal prince on either side; Monsieur de Calonne reads his
speech, a clerk seated at the table. Inscribed at the top of the
fan, ‘L’Assemblée des Notables commencée le 22 Février 1787.’ On the
reverse, the king’s oration, with the extract from that of Monsieur
Calonne, together with a song entitled ‘Ronde Joieuse à l’Occasion de
l’Assemblée des Notables.’[136]
Carlyle thus refers to the popular comments upon this event:—‘The
gaping populace gapes over Wood-cuts or Copper-cuts; where, for
example, a Rustic is represented convoking the Poultry of his barnyard,
with this opening address: “Dear animals, I have assembled you
to advise me what sauce I shall dress you with”; to which a Cock
responding, “We don’t want to be eaten,” is checked by “You wander from
the point (Vous vous écartez de la question).” Laughter and logic;
ballad-singer, pamphleteer; epigram and caricature: what wind of public
opinion is this—as if the Cave of the Winds were bursting loose!’
Of the events which immediately preceded and culminated in that of
the 14th July, the fan says little, except in reference to that
dread disease ‘consumption of the purse.’ The people have their
States-General—the king is represented as leaning upon a bust of
Necker, and holding a cornucopia from which issues gold; inscribed
above, ‘L’Heureuse Union des trois États Généraux sous le bon plaisir
de Louis Auguste XVI. par les soins de Mr. Necker en 1789.’
On another fan (brisé) the three orders of clergé, noblesse, and Tiers
État appear represented by single figures in medallions.
Of two fans having reference to the enforcement of public contributions
by Necker, one figures Louis and the dauphin standing before an open
box, with a Necker, who has developed wings, opening the box and
abstracting a bag of money: other matters, less significant, appear.
On the other fan is figured a lady and gentleman in a carriage
driving through a wood, with a parcel under the carriage inscribed
Contributions; an officer with a woman riding on the opposite side of
the fan, the two meeting at the junction of the two roads.
And so we reach the lurid 14 Juillet. To describe this siege of the
Bastille passes the talent of mortals; how much more that of the frail
fan!—Of the actual storming, therefore, not a word; we are given
instead a view of the fortress with the white flag floating from the
turret. M. de Launay’s house is in flames, he himself is led between
Jamé and the clock-maker, Hemert, under arrest. Another fan gives us a
view of the Bastille with the drawbridge down, De Launay wringing his
hands, bemoaning his fate, led prisoner. On the right of the fan are
soldiers headed by Élie with the paper of capitulation on the end of
his sword, two Invalides imploring mercy.
A third fan shows, in a large medallion, a view of the battlements,
with an unfortunate soldier being flung from the height, as De Launay
himself had been threatened. In the foreground De Launay dragged in
custody. The fan (brisé) strung with a tricolour ribbon.
In a fourth fan the Bastille is relegated to the distance, a company
of soldiers drawn up at its gates. In the foreground Liberty is seated
with cap in one hand, and in the other a scroll labelled ‘Époque de la
Liberté.’ Above, a winged figure blowing a trumpet, on the drapery of
which is inscribed ‘Prise a la Bastile le 14 Juilet 1789’; in the right
hand a cockade: the subject forming a medallion mounted in the centre
of an ivory fan cut in fretwork and decorated with trophies, etc., in
gold and colour. An example of this fan was sold at the Walker sale
in 1882. ‘Souvenir de la Bastille’ gives a view of the building with
neighbouring street. ‘Imp et Fabrique d’Eventails Rabiet. J. Ganné Succ
63 Boul^d Ménilmontant, Paris. Degovrnay, Éditeur. 28 Rue Mazarine,
Paris.’ On the back—fleurs de lys and Vive le Roy, 1789.
A sixth shows the conquerors issuing from the drawbridge, De Launay
and ‘Le lieutenant’ in great distress; on the reverse the fan sings
‘L’Époque de la Liberté’:
‘Vive Vive la liberté,
C’est le cri de toute la France,
Le Parisien est en gaîté,
Il va combattre, en assurance
Le bonheur désiré longtems
Ne se voit plus en équilibre,
Tous les cœurs se trouvent contens,
Vive le roi d’un peuple libre.
* * * * *
‘A Dieu Bastille, à dieu Cachots
Séjour à jamais exécrable,
Plus de victimes ni de maux
Dans votre enceinte abominable,
Bientôt à nos yeux éblouis
Comme on en voit aux bords du Tibre
La Colonne portant Louis
Annoncera le peuple libre.’
The Bastille has vanished, the fan remaining as souvenir to be sold for
a few sous, and fluttered by the cheek of some light-hearted grisette.
‘Tiens!’ she exclaims, ‘La prise de La Bastille! c’est belle, n’est-ce
pas?’ as happily ignorant of the trend of events as majesty in its
gilded chamber. ‘Mais,’ says the poor king, ‘c’est une révolte!’ ‘Sire,
it is not a revolt,—it is a revolution.’
The era of universal liberty has indeed arrived. In ‘Les Droits de
l’Homme, 1789,’ Liberty dons her cap, seats herself upon a pedestal
to be saluted by all good citizens with song, dance, and flowers; the
former, duly inscribed on the fan, commencing ‘Veillons au Salut de
l’empire.’
In a variation of this subject La Liberté holds a plummet and triangle
in her right hand, in the other a staff surmounted by a cap of Liberty;
the pedestal inscribed, ‘Liberté, Égalité, Fraternité, Unité.’
In a third fan La Liberté becomes ‘Patrone des Français,’ and is still
provided with plummet and cap.
In ‘Le Serment Civique, 1789,’ the attributes only of Liberty appear,
in the shape of three flaming hearts and cap on a flaming altar. Mayor
Bailly and Lafayette take the oath, to the accompaniment of a song
commencing ‘Français, quand je pense à nos maux.’
The Revolution is therefore sanctioned—one of its earliest results
being Le Déménagement du Clergé. On the fan we see a group of bishops,
monks, nuns, a number of servants carrying furniture and other effects.
A bishop, with pipe and bottle, is seated on the top of a baggagewagon
on which is inscribed, ‘J’ai perdu mes bénéfices, Rien n’égale ma
douleur.’ A monk, also smoking, is riding on the horse and flourishing
a flag inscribed, ‘Guidon.’ ‘Messieurs of the Clergy, you _have_ to be
shaved; if you wriggle too much, you will get cut.’[137]
In the ‘Désespoir des Pensionnaires,’ we are introduced to a group of
figures who are bewailing their loss; a messenger in cockaded hat is
delivering the notices.
Cockades, indeed, were at this period ‘de rigueur’—the ladies wore them
in front of their head-dresses—wore gauze bonnets trimmed on either
side with them, a great bow of tricoloured streamers at the back.
Stripes everywhere—stripes and cockades, cockades and stripes—stripes
on the dresses, slippers, and even the huge muffs of the women; stripes
on the waistcoats, stockings, and gloves of the men. The patriotic
Frenchmen and Frenchwomen of 1789 were the very incarnation of the
tricolour; it was the symbol of the gospel of the Revolution, Blue of
Liberty, White of Equality, Red of Fraternity.[138]
The Fête de la Fédération, 1790, is commemorated on a fan giving in
the centre a view of the altar in the Champ de Mars, with Lafayette
waving the tricolour, the fan incribed ‘Le Serment fait sur l’Autel de
la Patrie le 14 Juillet 1790, la voix de Mr. la Fayette, Major de la
Confédération s’est fait entendre au Champ de Mars.’ On either side
are busts of King Louis and Lafayette, inscribed ‘Louis XVI., Roi des
Français né à Versailles le 23 Aoust 1754.’ ‘M. De La Fayette Com.
Géné. de la Garde Nat. Parisienne.’
On another fan the altar, with surrounding booths, arches, etc., and
groups of soldiers dancing. On either side eight verses of a poem,
commencing, ‘Voilà la Fête de la Fédération,’ etc., to the air ‘Vive
Henri IV.’[139]
[Illustration: The Abolition of the Slave Trade.
Bibliothèque Nationale, Paris.]
[Illustration: ‘Cabriolet’ Fan.
Schreiber Coll^n. British Museum.]
The ‘Day of Poignards’ (February 28, 1791) approaches, and friends
of Royalty (les chevaliers de poignard) rally round the son of sixty
kings. We all know the issue: chevaliers retreated with greater
expedition than they came—flung ignominiously downstairs into the
darkness of the Tuileries garden, accelerated by ignominious shovings
from the sentries—‘spurnings _a posteriori_, not to be named.’[140] Our
veracious chronicler the fan provides us with a representation of the
scene. The inscription, ‘Arestation e Désarmement de gens au suspects
Ch^{au} des thuileries le 28 F^{er} 1791 à 10^h du soir,’ with six
verses of a revolutionary song, entitled, ‘La Soirée des Poignards,’
the refrain:
‘Quoi l’habit bleu vous fait peur
Valeureux Aristocrates,
Quoi l’habit bleu vous fait peur
Brave ci-devant Seigneur.’
The event of the 2nd of April could not pass without the fan’s comment;
we therefore have a medallion profile portrait of Mirabeau, inscribed,
‘Honoré Gabriel Riquetti, C^{te} de Mirabeau. Mort le 2 Avril 1791.’
A second Mirabeau fan, in the possession of M. Philippe de Saint-Albin,
has in the centre a portrait bust, above which is inscribed, ‘Honoré
Gabriel Riquetti Mirabeau,’ and ‘Je combattrai les factieux de tous les
partis’; on either side of the portrait two medallions, the subjects
including Mirabeau as tribune, and the great orator on his deathbed.
Assignat-fans, 1791, refer to the difficulties with respect to
paper-money, the woes of the holders of _rentes_, when paper-money was
not worth one-tenth of its face value, and draw a contrast between the
Dives of the past and the financier of the present. On the obverse, a
medley of assignats of 1791-2; on the reverse, the two Jeans, the one
in ragged clothing and poor surroundings, weeping over his assignats,
crying, ‘Ils sont tombés’ and
‘Vous êtes Etonnés, je m’en apperçois Bien:
Qu’avec du papier je ne possède Rien’;
the other, ‘Jean qui Rit,’ the speculator, who exchanges one louis
d’or for 10,000 livres in assignats, is seated at a table with a large
coffer and numerous bags filled with gold. He points to his brother
‘Jean qui Pleure’ and says, ‘Il se désole,’ and ‘A de certaines gens,
je ne me suis point fié. Ce Résultat pour moi, vaut mieux que du
papier.’
On several assignat-fans the money card, the seven of diamonds, is
introduced, its significance being sufficiently obvious.
And royalty in its gilded saloon, what has become of it? How fares it
with the poor Louis and his devoted family? That flight from the Rue
de l’Échelle in the darkness of the night of the 20th June 1791, when
the lady shaded in broad gypsy-hat, tapped, from sheer playfulness,
with her badine—‘light little magic rod such as the Beautiful then
wore—the wheel of Lafayette’s carriage as it rolled past’; this goes
unrecorded, as also the incident in the village of Sainte-Menehould,
when Post-master Drouet recognises a familiar face in the lady with
the slouched gypsy-hat and the ‘Grosse-Tête’ in round hat and peruke.
‘Quick, Sieur Guillaume, Clerk of the Directoire, bring me a new
Assignat! Drouet compares the Paper-money Picture with the Gross Head
in round hat there: by Day and Night! you might say this one was an
attempted engraving of the other.’[141]
And so event succeeds event—over the final tragedy of the 21st January
1793, no less than over the more piteous scene of October 16, the fan
discreetly draws a veil.
[Illustration: Napoleon shows his troops the channel, 1803.
Bibliothèque Nationale, Paris.]
Several fans have for their subject the Testament du Louis XVI., and
give medallion portraits of the king and various members of his family,
with the symbol of immortality; the inscription, ‘Testament De Louis
Seize, Né Le 23 Aoust 1754. Mort le Lundi 21 Janvier 1793.’ On the
sides or reverse of the fans, the will written out at length.
In ‘Le Songe,’ a female figure is represented asleep; on a tomb in the
centre of the fan, a figure of Louis appears when the fan is placed
against the light; the representation being veiled or concealed by
means of a thin piece of paper pasted over it.
Mourning-fans were common with the more loyal portion of the community;
these also consisted of concealed portraits of Louis and his family,
and are usually decorated with black gauze and spangles; the
inscription, ‘Vive le Roi!’
A favourite device was a pansy or heart’s-ease (‘that’s for thoughts’),
with the portraits appearing on the principal petal, upon the fan being
held against the light. These obtained later, when popular opinion,
becoming tired of the Revolution and its consequences, was again
veering round in the direction of Royalty.
But who is this pale-faced citoyenne of aristocratic mien, in high
‘constitutional’ hat, with black cockade, fan in hand, asking leave
to speak with citizen Marat?... Charlotte’s fan is mentioned in the
deposition of Laurent Bas, who was working in the house at the time;
certain it is that the fan was not relinquished when the blow was
struck. The ‘trade,’ fearful lest the event should cast discredit
on their goods, immediately brought out fans ‘à la Marat.’ The most
popular of these reproduce the tribune with Lepelletier, Charlier, and
Barras. This, with its burden of pikes and caps of Liberty, was bought
by the Jacobin customers at forty-eight livres a gross. An example
occurs in the Bibliothèque Nationale, where, singularly enough, it
is pasted in an album bearing the arms of Marie-Antoinette, and is
believed to have been arranged by the queen herself.[142]
On another fan, ‘Liberty’ is seated between medallion portraits of
Marat and Lepelletier; the inscription, ‘Marat,’ ‘Liberté Unité,’
‘Peletier.’ Ultimately the event itself figured as the principal
subject of a fan, Charlotte being represented as carrying a dagger in
one hand and a fan in the other.
The debate on the 4th February 1794 on the abolition of the slave-trade
forms the subject of a fan (illustrated). Three years previously,
Grégoire and Robespierre had passed an act whereby coloured persons
born of free parents were placed on an equality with whites. The
fan-makers, ever ready to seize upon a popular incident, promptly
issued a fan with five figures, representing ‘France,’ ‘Mercury,’ ‘The
Colonies,’ ‘England,’ and the ‘United States,’ holding scrolls with
inscriptions in English, heraldic devices on either side. La France,
with shield bearing staff of Unity and cap of Liberty, is saying, ‘We
find true happiness but by making others happy.’ Mercury, holding
fetters, says, ‘Don’t go to deceive me nor believe you will escape. I
extend my power over Sea and Land, and my vengeance will find you even
at the end of the World.’ ‘The Colonies,’ dressed after the fashion
of Marmontel’s Incas, exclaims, ‘Charming hope of Liberty, come and
comfort my agitated heart.’ England, crowned, with a leopard crouching
at her feet, and holding ‘The Colonies’ by the hand, says, ‘She offers
me Guineas.’ The United States is represented by a black woman,
plumed, with a sheath of arrows over her shoulder; the inscription,
‘Independence and trade all over the globe.’ The etching is signed
‘Martin.’
[Illustration: The projected invasion of England by Napoleon, 1803.
Bibliothèque Nationale.]
Cabriolets had appeared much earlier, and had continued in favour.
These formed the subject of printed as well as painted fans.[143] From
Cabriolets it is but a step to Incroyables, who had their incredible
cabriolets as well as their racehorses with slim legs and tails
cropped almost to the root, the fan-makers indulging the public in
their new-found Anglomania. In these curious prints, a number of
which were produced by Carl Vernet, everything is incredible—the
wheels of the ‘cabs’ incredibly thin, the seats incredibly high, the
figures of both sexes incredibly tall and attenuated. ‘Cabriolets,’
says Mercier, ‘are made lighter every day to give increased speed in
the race for wealth.... There are now three things to admire in a
fashionable “cab”—the silver body, the wheels, and the horse; the whole
thing, including the owner and his groom, ought not to weigh more than
a good-sized portmanteau.’
Incredibility became the order of the day. The fashionables, who
abhorred the Revolution, adopted an incredible method of demonstrating
their sentiments; hair was cut incredibly short behind, as it had been
cut for the victims of the scaffold during the reign of terror. Further
to recall the scene, they let it fall as at the moment of execution
over their eyes, this being the style _à la victime_. A _balle des
victimes_ was given by its votaries, to which no woman was admitted who
had not had a relative guillotined.[144]
Once again assignat-fans made their appearance: upon the death of the
Republic and the birth of the Directoire, when the pendulum of public
opinion was once more swinging in the direction of Royalism, the
assignats being arranged so that the king’s head appeared in the centre
of the fan. These, with defiant glances, were fluttered under the noses
of the police by the fair aristocrats of the Palais Égalité.[145]
Then came the period of the worship of Nature and the triumph of
Rousseau, with the cry of ‘Long live the author of _Émile, Le Contrat
Social, La Nouvelle Héloïse_!’, Jean-Jacques being glorified in a
triumphal car drawn by two bullocks garlanded with roses.[146]
During the temporary lull by which every storm is followed, the
preternaturally high-waisted ladies banished ennui by devotion to
the Love-God; and we have many ‘_Ruses de l’Amour_’, ‘_Triomphes de
l’Amour_, etc. Cagliostro had some years previously departed _pour
‘l’Isle de Malthe.’_ Marat, Danton, Robespierre, had been severally
removed from the scene of their activities: the fan-makers were at the
point of despair at the absence of a new sensation, when—enter _le
petit Caporal!!!_
Among the myriad fans recording the multifarious activities of
this amazing personality,[147] we have a representation of Wurmser
surrendering his sword to the young general, a small medallion on
either side of the battle, and a view of the city: the inscription,
‘A Buonaparte Vienen.’ The border, formed of the word ‘Buonaparte’ in
large capitals surrounded by rays of light, these alternated by laurel
wreaths; the fan excellently engraved by Bertaux.
At the psychological moment of Bonaparte’s appearance at the banquet
given in his honour at the ‘Salle d’audience, 10 Dec. 1797.’ his
‘star,’ in the shape of the planet Venus, appeared in the heavens at
midday. Here indeed was an opportunity for the fan-makers, who promptly
produced a fan of an astrologer with telescope, surrounded by an
excited crowd, who declared the appearance to be a comet. This, says
Henri Bouchot, gave the signal to the Agréables who dressed themselves
and their hair _à la comète, à l’étoile_, and showered stars in all
directions.
We also have a reference to the proposals of peace to the allied powers
by Napoleon on his elevation as First Consul in 1799. Bonaparte is
here crowned by Fame and Peace; points to a map of Europe held by a
figure of the French Republic, who also bears the tricolour inscribed,
‘Nouvelles Républiques, Règne des Arts, Alliance avec les Français.’
From a pedestal the French cock utters its clarion note. To the left,
Victory inscribes on a monument the names of Napoleon’s generals. Above
in a glory the legend, ‘Paix Glorieuse An VI.’
[Illustration: Adventure in Russia.
Schreiber Collection British Museum.]
[Illustration: Marriage of Napoleon with Marie Louise.
Bibliothèque Nationale, Paris.]
On another fan referring to the same event, Napoleon is discovered
standing by a figure of Peace who bears the olive branch; the
inscription, ‘Bonaparte et La Paix.’ Right and left are figures of
Commerce and Agriculture, and in the background a group of peasants
express their joy.
In the really handsome fan engraved in stipple by Godefroy we have an
apotheosis of Bonaparte. A bust of the Emperor within an oak wreath
occupies the centre, with the genii of Immortality and Plenty bearing
their attributes; on either side, allegories of Peace and War in
medallions associated with arabesque. The inscription, ‘Dessiné Par
Chaudet, Fontaine et Persier; Gravé Par Godefroy.’[148]
The great ‘Descente en Angleterre, 1803,’ forms the subject of a number
of fans. Napoleon, to the accompaniment of Fame’s trumpet and the
rataplan of the drum-major, shows his troops the Channel, and points to
St. Paul’s(!) and the Tower (French version), on an island.
The Channel is tunnelled (in imagination), troops pour through with
ammunition, cannon, and other paraphernalia of war. Above, a fleet of
vessels on the sea, and an army of balloons in the air, invade the
devoted island, which defends itself by means of captive kites, sky
rockets, and the guns booming from the fortifications at Dover. This in
several versions.[149]
The crowning of Napoleon as King of Italy at Milan, on May 23, 1805,
is recorded, as also the Peace of Tilsit, 1807, by which Prussia was
stripped of almost half of its territory. On this latter fan, Napoleon,
the Emperor Alexander, and the King of Prussia appear on a raft.
In 1810 the Emperor, in all the bravery of feathers, leads the
Archduchess Marie-Louise to the altar of Hymen; La France offering a
diadem of stars.
Of fans referring to the Russian campaign of 1812 two appear in the
Schreiber collection. In the one, Napoleon is seen on horseback,
attended by a general, surveying his army, the troops saluting; in the
other, the journey to Paris in a sledge drawn by three horses at full
gallop, Napoleon, wrapped up in furs, looking back on the wounded and
dead lying in the snow. Both fans inscribed, ‘Aventuras de Bonaparte en
Rusia en 1812.’
In the subject of the Nicaragua Canal the fan assumes the role of
prophet, and with this we must bring to a close this brief carnival
of a century. On the 12 Vendémiaire of the year XII., one Martin la
Bastide deposited in the Bibliothèque Nationale two prints of a fan
setting forth his scheme for uniting two oceans through the lake of
Nicaragua. He had already made the suggestion twelve years previously
in Laborde’s _Histoire abrégée de la mer du Sud_.
He was not, however, the first to demonstrate the feasibility of
cutting a canal at Nicaragua; a similar proposal had been made by the
Portuguese navigator, Antonio Galvão, as early as 1550, and in the
following year the Spanish historian, Gómara, submitted a memorial
to Philip II., urging in forcible terms that the work be undertaken
forthwith. ‘The project was, nevertheless, opposed by the Spanish
Government, who concluded that a monopoly of communication with their
possessions in the New World was of greater importance than a passage
by sea to Cathay.’[150]
Two fans referring to this subject appear in the Schreiber collection;
in the one, the map of Central America on the front, and of North
America on the reverse, a portion missing: and in the other, the
composition complete. The fan is adorned with, on the left, a group
of allegorical figures of the four Regions of the world listening to
Mercury, the god of commerce, who points out the course of the proposed
canal; on the right, a reference to La Bastide’s appeal to the King
of Spain, who is here listening to the voice of France urging him to
complete the canal; and an elaborate border of ships, tritons, etc.,
with a summary of La Bastide’s investigations. Alas for vain hopes, and
the futility of human endeavour, the best laid schemes are often doomed
to disappointment, and it was not until nearly a century had elapsed
that the canal, which La Bastide foresaw, though as through a glass
darkly, had any prospect of realisation.[151]
[Illustration: IVORY FAN. (Madras. Nineteenth Century.)]
CHAPTER X
ENGRAVED FANS OF THE SEVENTEENTH AND EIGHTEENTH CENTURIES. PART II.
In England the fan’s comments on the public events of the eighteenth
and the latter years of the preceding century begin with a satirical
allusion to the intrigues of European diplomacy concerning the affairs
of Poland. Ten female figures representing France, Spain, Sardinia,
Empire, Saxony, Russia, Poland, Britannia, Holland, and Prussia are
seated round a table, the first seven playing piquet; an empty chair,
labelled ‘I pray to God for peace,’ is reserved for the Pope (Innocent
XI.), who is seen on the left protesting that he does not understand
the game. A figure in civilian dress in the foreground is holding a
scroll which is lettered, ‘’Tis not the interest of the nation to
play without advantage. In time Commerce might pay the cards.’ On the
extreme right is the Sultan of Turkey on horseback, exclaiming, ‘If you
don’t leave off, I’ll tear the cards,’ with the Shah of Persia on foot,
saying, ‘Seigneur Jack, Persia shall make you change your note.’ The
date is between 1679 and 1689, the period of the pontificate of Pope
Innocent XI.
[Illustration: A New Game of Piquet among the nations of Europe.
Schreiber Coll^n. British Museum.]
The coronation banquet of George II. in Westminster Hall, on October
11, 1727, is recorded in an extremely primitive etching. The king
and queen are enthroned on a dais in the centre of the fan; in the
background are galleries of spectators, and in front the champion of
England throws down his gauntlet. The subject is enclosed in a
cartouche, and on the sides of the fan are the crown, sceptre, ampulla,
vestments, etc.; the whole rudely coloured by hand.
It was, possibly, as some recompense for its author’s gallant defence
of their most powerful weapon that the ladies helped to swell the tide
of prosperity of the _Beggar’s Opera_, produced in November of this
same year (1727). Fans were carried illustrating the favourite songs
of the piece, which enjoyed its successful run of sixty-three nights,
‘making Gay rich and Rich gay.’
The defeat and withdrawal of Sir Robert Walpole’s excise scheme
provided the occasion for many satires which appeared during the year
1733. In these Walpole is represented as an itinerant quack doctor, and
as an exciseman, in which latter character he was hanged and burned in
effigy on April 12th of the same year.
In the fan a comparison is drawn between Walpole and Wolsey, and on a
medallion portrait of the last named is inscribed:
‘Wolsey and his Successor here in one behold.
Both serv’d their masters, both their Country Sold.’
A figure is seen walking in a garden with two papers in his hands,
the one inscribed, ‘Liberty and Property,’ and the other, ‘No Dutch
Politicks. Down with the Excise.’ In the mid-distance a figure holds
a purse and draws attention to the portrait of Wolsey. Two barrels
are figured in the foreground, together with the Excise Monster in
the throes of death, on the body of which are inscribed the various
articles affected, as Printing, Salt, Malt, Gin, etc.
The print has apparently been cut down, and evidently forms part of a
design or series of designs.
M. Gamble advertises as follows in the _Craftsman_ of June 9, 1733:—
‘This day is published for all Loyal Ladies, an Excise Fan; or the
Political Monster as described in _Fog’s Journal_, May the 5th,
curiously delineated, Being a Memorial for Posterity. In this most
agreeable fan is represented:
I. A Picture of Cardinal Wolsey (the first Excise Master of England)
done from an original Painting.
II. A view of his Feats on one Hand, and those of his Successor on
the other.
III. An English Lawyer with two honest Briefs.
IV. The famous Monster-Monger, Ferdinando Ferdinandi, drawn to the
Life.
V. The Death of the Excise Monster.
VI. A modern Inquisition with an Assembly of Merry Spectators (as
Vintners, Tobacconist, etc.) of Ferdinando’s Lamentation over
his departed Beast.
‘Now!
‘Tis in the Power of every British Fair
To turn Excises of all kinds to Air.’
‘Sold by M. Gamble at the Golden Fan in St. Martin’s Court near
Leicester Fields. Price 2s. 6d.’
On August 25 of the same year, M. Gamble again advertises the fan and
adds:—
‘This is the Fan mentioned in the _London Magazine_; it will be very
useful at all meetings for nominating Members of Parliament, not only
for cooling the Heats which may arise, but to show the nature of an
arbitrary Monster.
‘Now is the Time when every British Fair
May turn Excises of all kinds to air.’
‘There is now published the third Edition with additions.’
The marriage of the Crown Princess with the Prince of Orange in 1734
was the occasion of much rejoicing, and the nuptials were celebrated
with the greatest magnificence, the prince receiving with his bride
the sum of £80,000 as portion. In an address to His Majesty from the
loyal and dutiful citizens of London, the greatest glory, the brightest
triumphs, the most distinguished prosperity are presaged from another
alliance with that truly illustrious house, the house of Nassau; ‘from
whence so many heroes have sprung, the scourges of tyrants and the
asserters of liberty.’
The fan joins in the general congratulatory chorus; a view of the
marriage ceremony in the French Chapel of St. James’s Palace is given;
the King and Queen, with the royal family, are seated in boxes at the
back.
There was an allegorical version of this event, in which the
contracting parties appear in classic costume, with a bishop and other
persons in the background in the costume of the period. In front Hymen
lights his torch from that of Cupid. In other parts of the composition
are seen: An infant embracing a lamb, a pelican in her piety, an infant
Hercules killing serpents, etc. The whole surrounded by an orange
border.
Several variations of this are extant, one omitting the orange-trees,
with a border printed from another plate.
The following advertisement appeared in the _Craftsman_ for July 7,
1733:—
‘_Just Published_
‘By JONATHAN PINCHBECK, Fanmaker, at the Fan and Crown in New Round
Court in the Strand; and sold by him, and at the Fan-shops of London
and Westminster.
‘The Nassau Fan; or Love and Beauty Triumphant: Being an Encomium
on the Nuptial Ceremony which will shortly be consummated between
his Highness the Prince of Orange and the Princess Royal of England;
adorned with the Pictures of those illustrious Personages, attended
by Hymen, Fame, Minerva, Cupids, etc. Together with a copy of Verses
and other Decorations suitable to the occasion.
‘_N.B._—Beware of Counterfeits; the true original Nassau Fans having
the name (Pinchbeck) prefix’d to the mount.’
On August 18th this advertisement is repeated, with the additional
statement that ‘there are a few neatly printed on leather for the
curious,’ and a note to the following effect:—‘A spurious edition of
the Nassau Fan has been lately offer’d to the publick, in Prejudice to
the Original Nassau Fan; but as all Persons that have seen both are
fully satisfy’d that it bears no comparison with the former, ‘tis no
wonder that the Design to lessen the original in the esteem of the
Publick, proves as fruitless as the Attempt is unfair and ungenerous’;
this evidently referring to the following, which had appeared in the
_Craftsman_ a week earlier, August 11:—
‘_This day is Published_
‘The New Nassau Fan, humbly dedicated to her Royal Highness PRINCESS
ANNE,
By her Highness’s most humble
and devoted servant,
RICHARD HYLTON.
‘In this fan is represented the Portraitures of his Highness William,
Prince of Orange and Nassau, etc., and her Royal Highness Princess
Anne (done from the original Painting of Van Dyke and Hysing), in
an Orbit, supported by Cupids, adorn’d with other emblematical
Ornaments, disposed in a curious and beautiful Manner.
‘To be had of the aforesaid Richard Hylton, at the Golden Fan in
Great George St., Hanover Square.’
On September 1st this advertisement is repeated, with the addition of
the following couplet:—
‘Just Heaven does Anne and Nassau joyn,
To glad great George and Caroline.’
And the following reply to Pinchbeck’s advertisements of 7th July and
18th August:—
‘_N.B._—This is to inform that ingenious Gentleman (who calls
himself) the Proprietor of a Nassau Fan, that he has been guilty of a
very gross Error, and has prejudiced himself by informing the Publick
that he knows no Difference between a Fan which is made like the
Frontispiece of a Halfpenny Ballad, and one that’s done in a curious
Manner by one of the best Hands in England.’
[Illustration: The Motion. 1741.
The New Nassau Fan. 1733.
Schreiber Coll^n. British Museum.]
This sally calls forth the following rejoinder from Pinchbeck, who, on
September 15th, repeats his former advertisement, with this footnote:—
‘_N.B._—I would not have the splenetick Author of (as he calls
it) the loyal Nassau Fan imagine that I think him capable either
of doing, or saying, any Thing Worthy of Notice, tho’ for once
I condescend to inform him that the Publick are sufficiently
convinc’d of his Ignorance in putting his Trifle in Competition
with the Original Nassau Fan, as well as of his Malice in perverting
the Sense of my Advertisement. I shall, however, submit my
Performance to the judgment of the Publick, and not trouble them with
quackish Epistles quite foreign to the Purpose.
‘Beware of Counterfeits. The Original Nassau Fan having the name
(Pinchbeck) prefix’d to the Mount.’
On September 22nd, Pinchbeck repeats his advertisement, and once again
cautions the public against counterfeits. (In the highest esteem among
the Ladies, and infinitely surpasseth every Thing of the Kind offered
to the Publick.)
A month earlier a fresh candidate for public favour had appeared in
the shape of the ‘Orange Fan,’ a composition of an orange-tree and a
rose-bush, with a view of London in the distance, a three-masted vessel
in the foreground, and above, a dove holding in his beak a letter
addressed ‘To The Lovely She, Who has more than 80,000 Charms’; on the
upper and lower border of the fan, an ode in five stanzas, ‘set to
Music: Tune, Let’s be Jolly; fill our Glasses.’
This was advertised by M. Gamble in the _Craftsman_ for August 25th,
the charms of the ‘Lovely She’ being reduced in the advertisement to
30,000.
‘Once more the Orange joins the British Rose,
And fragrant Sweets they mutually disclose;
Entwin’d by Nature’s Bonds, their Charms unite,
And from the Foil the Jewel shines more bright.’
The price of the Mount painted in proper colours, 1s. 6d.
Ready mounted upon neat sticks, 2s. 6d.
The ‘New Nassau Fan,’ advertised by Hylton, is here given, and must
certainly be said to bear very fair comparison with Pinchbeck’s. The
portraits of the royal pair occupy a medallion in the centre, supported
by Cupids above; two winged figures are holding a wreath and blowing
trumpets, from which are suspended the royal arms of the two respective
countries.
Below is a ribbon inscribed, ‘Ad Altiora Speramus,’ with a Cupid
holding a royal crown and star. A scroll, at the extremities of which
are two medals of George II. and William the Silent, Prince of Orange,
is inscribed:
‘Brittons now y^r Poems sing,
Love and Beauty Garlands bring;
Heavens Ann and Nassau joyn
To glad George and Caroline.’
In addition are figures of Peace with olive branch and dove, and
Liberty holding cap on a staff, together with a Bible inscribed ‘B.
Sacra,’ a lion at her feet.
The fan is freely etched, coloured by hand, and mounted on plain wavy
wooden sticks.
Pinchbeck continued to advertise his fan until April 20, 1734, when,
presumably, popular interest in the affair waned.
In 1730-33, Hogarth produced his ‘Harlot’s Progress’ (commenced at the
time of his marriage), its various scenes being promptly pirated by
the fan-makers. Mr. F. G. Stephens, in his _Catalogue of Political and
Personal Satires_, British Museum, vol. iii. part I, page 28, refers
to fans printed with copies from ‘A Harlot’s Progress,’ three designs
being on each side of the fan, usually printed in red ink. These fans,
says Nichols, Hogarth’s biographer, were customarily given to the
maid-servants in Hogarth’s family, doubtless as moral lessons.[152] M.
Gamble had advertised them during the year 1733 in the _Craftsman_ and
_Daily Journal_. In a footnote to his advertisement of the Church of
England fan we have the following:—
_N.B._—‘For those that are Curious, a small number are work’d off on
fine Paper, fit to Frame. Likewise a new Edition of the ‘Harlot’s
Progress’ in Fans, or singly to Frame.’—_Daily Journal_, Jan. 24,
1733.
By the kindness of Mr. C. Fairfax Murray we are enabled to illustrate
an excellent example of one of these very rare fan leaves, inscribed
in ink (probably by the collector Baker), ‘Given to me by Mrs. Hogarth,
1781.’ In the centre is the quack doctor, printed in a greenish
yellow, the two side scenes of ‘Bridewell’ and the ‘Funeral’ in a rich
red, the fan being engraved in pure line. The scenes are inscribed
respectively—‘In a high Salivation’; ‘In Bridewell beating of Hemp’;
and the ‘Funeral’; with suitable explanatory verses.
[Illustration: The Harlot’s Progress, after Hogarth.
Mr C. Fairfax Murray.]
Other fans were issued, these probably by another publisher, giving
the various scenes grouped together, the figures slightly rearranged
to suit the space, indifferently etched in outline, and printed in
red on skin. Five leaves appear in the Schreiber collection; the
first gives the whole composition; the second, the same, with several
scenes omitted; the third, with further omissions; the fourth, with
the central subject only, of the arrival of ‘Mary Hackabout in
London,’ partially coloured by hand; the fifth, a spoiled, indistinct
print, covered with a Chinese landscape printed in black, the evident
intention being to utilise the skin mount.
The print of the Midnight Modern Conversation, 1733, copied by
salt-glazed potters of the period, and appearing on snuff-boxes and
punch-bowls, for the latter of which it was eminently suitable, was
used also for a fan mount.
In this print, to quote Mr. Austin Dobson, a party of eleven, whose
degrees of intoxication are admirably differentiated, have finished
some two dozen bottles of claret; and at four in the morning are
commencing a capacious bowl of punch, presided over by a rosy-gilled
parson—the
‘Fortem validumque combibonem
Laetantem super amphora repleta’
of the Westminster Latinist, Vincent Bourne; but in real life
identified both with the famous ‘Orator’ Henley, and the Rev. Cornelius
Ford, a dissolute cousin of Dr. Johnson.
In the _Daily Journal_ for May 24, 1733, we have the following
advertisement:—
‘_This Day is Published_,
‘A Beautiful Mount for a Fan, call’d the Midnight Modern
Conversation, curiously performed from that incomparable Design
of that celebrated Artist the ingenious Mr. Hogarth; to which is
prefixed, for the Entertainment of the Ladies, a Description of each
particular Person that Gentleman hath introduced in that Night Scene.
Sold at Mr. Chinavax’s great Toyshop against Suffolk-street, Charing
Cross; Mr. Deard’s against St. Dunstan’s Church, Fleet Street; Mrs.
Cambal in St. Martin’s Court; and by B. Dickinson at Inigo Jones’
Head against Exeter Change in the Strand, at which Place they may be
had Wholesale at reasonable Rates.’
No print of this fan-mount is available for reproduction.
The victory of Admiral Vernon in his good ship the _Burford_ at
Portobello, on the 22nd November 1739, though not a particularly
significant feat even with six ships of the line, was immensely popular
with the masses. It was a familiar subject with the potters, especially
the Staffordshire potter Astbury, who commemorated it on tea-pots,
mugs, and the Portobello bowl.
The fan is not very interesting as a design, the six ships appearing
to overpower the fortress, which was an old one. Five stanzas of verse
appear, expressing the determination to avenge the wrongs of Britons,
to support her injured trade, etc.
‘Hark, the British Cannon thunders,
See, my Lads, six Ships appear;
Every Briton acting Wonders,
Strikes the Southern World with fear.
Porto Bello, fam’d in Story,
Now at last submits to fate;
Vernon’s courage gains us Glory,
And his Mercy proves us great.’
The etching is signed ‘F. Chassereau, April y^e 22, 1740.’
Vernon’s exploit at Carthagena, April 1, 1740, is also recorded; on the
left, a view of the English camp; on the right, the flying inhabitants,
including a figure named ‘Don Blas’; the fan inscribed ‘Cartagena.’
The motion by Mr. Sandys in the House of Commons on January 29, 1740,
and that of Lord Carteret in the House of Lords on February 13,
1741, to remove Sir Robert Walpole (who at that time was exceedingly
unpopular) from his post of Prime Minister, is commemorated on a
fan which is a free copy from a print published by T. Cooper at the
Globe in Paternoster Row, 1741, and referred to in a letter of Horace
Walpole, written from Florence to his friend Conway, March 25, 1741:
‘I have received a print by this post that diverts me extremely: _the
Motion_. Tell me, dear, now, who made the design, and who took the
likenesses: they are admirable; the lines are as good as one sees on
such occasions. I wrote last post to Sir Robert, to wish him joy; I
hope he received my letter.’
The scene is Whitehall, with the Treasury in the distance. A coach
containing Lord Carteret, who is leaning out of the window and crying,
‘Let me get out,’ is driven by the Duke of Argyll, brandishing a
flaming sword, the Earl of Chesterfield as postilion. Bubb Dodington,
in the form of a spaniel, is seated between the Duke’s legs. Lord
Cobham behind as footman. Lord Lyttelton follows on horseback, whip
in hand. Several persons are being overridden by the coach, which is
nearly overturned. Mr. Sandys, in the foreground, is dropping the
‘Place Bill,’ and exclaiming, ‘I thought what would come of putting him
on the box.’ Pulteney, exclaiming, ‘Z—nds! they’re over,’ and leading
his followers by the nose, wheels a barrow laden with ‘Craftsman,’
‘Letters to the Earl,’ ‘State of Nat—’, ‘Champion,’ ‘Common Sense,’
etc., with a dice box and dice. Dr. Smalbroke, Bishop of Lichfield,
accompanied by three pigs (one only in the original print), bows
obsequiously.
The ten verses which appeared on the print are inscribed on the right
hand of the fan. In ‘nigger’ parlance they at once propound questions
and supply the answers, thus:
‘Who be dat de Box do sit on?
‘Tis John, the Hero of North Britain,
Who out of Place does Placemen spit on.
Doodle, etc.
* * * * *
Who’s dat behind? ‘Tis Dicky Cobby,
Who first wou’d have hanged and then try’d Bobby.
Ah, was not that a pretty Jobb-e.
Doodle, etc.
* * * * *
So, sirs, me have shown you all de Hero’s,
Who put you together by the Ear-os,
And frighten you so with groundless Fear-os.
Doodle, etc.’
Thomas Wright (_Caricature History of the Georges_) thus refers to the
prints: ‘Several editions of “The Motion” were published, and one, in
the collection of Mr. Burke, is fitted for a fan. Another, very neatly
drawn and etched on a folio plate, and dated February 19th, contains
great variations, and wants much of the pointed meaning of the genuine
print. They here appear to be driving into a river. Pulteney and Sandys
are omitted; two prelates hold on to the straps behind the coach, which
seems in imminent danger of falling; yet Carteret cries out to his
driver, “John, if you drive so fast, you’ll overset us all, by G—d.”’
On the 2nd of March the ‘Patriots’ retaliated with a caricature
entitled ‘The Reason,’ in which we have another carriage with the
portly form of Sir Robert Walpole as coachman:
‘Who be dat de box do sit on?
Dat’s de driver of G— B—,
Whom all the Patriots do spit on.’
In this print, the foppish and effeminate Lord Hervey, well known by
Pope’s sarcastic title of ‘Lord Fanny,’ is riding, fan in hand, on a
wooden horse, drawn by two men, one of whom cries, ‘Sit fast, Fanny;
we are sure to win.’
‘Dat painted butterfly so prim-a,
On wooden Pegasus so trim-a,
Is something—nothing—’tis a whim-a.’
The fan-makers were not slow in following up with a fan. On April 25,
the following advertisement appeared in the _Craftsman_:—
‘This day is published, by J. Pinchbeck at the Fan and Crown in New
Round Court, in the Strand.
‘The Reason for the Motion. A Satire, whereon are the Portraits of
divers Noble Personages. To which is annexed, Explanatory Verses,
which will serve as a Key to the Whole.
‘Where may be had, All sorts of Fans and Fan-Mounts. The newest
fashion, and suited to the nicest Taste. Wholesale or Retail.
‘_N.B._—Gentlemen and Ladies may have any Device done in a curious
Manner, according to their own Direction.
‘There is a Spurious Sort about the Town, which has not the Verses,
and but part of the Figures.’
The Jacobite rebellion of 1745 was commemorated by a fan leaf engraved
by Sir Robert Strange, intended for the sympathisers with the
Pretender. The moment for the rebellion was well chosen—the king was in
Hanover, the Duke of Cumberland had fought and lost Fontenoy in April
of the same year, and was still engaged in Flanders. The fan shows the
Prince in armour, with Cameron of Lochiel as Mars, and Flora Macdonald
as Bellona.
In the fan representing the apotheosis of the Young Pretender, the
Prince, supported by Mars and Bellona, is claiming the inheritance of
the English crown; a figure of Fame bears the laurel wreath, at his
side is an altar blazing with devoted hearts, and above are Venus and
Cupid seated on a cloud. On the left, Britannia smiles through her
tears as a dove approaches bearing the palm branch, emblem of Peace.
On the right, Jupiter with his thunder scatters the Hanoverian faction
into obscurity, and Rapine and Murder are prostrated. An example,
carefully coloured, appeared in the Walker sale in 1882, and passed
into the possession of Lady Charlotte Schreiber for the sum of £7. The
stick is ivory, carved with subjects and fretwork.
The peace of Aix-la-Chapelle, signed October 7, 1748, was celebrated in
the following April by a grand display of fireworks in the Green Park,
opposite to His Majesty’s library. A fan fairly well engraved, the
design well disposed, shows a view of the temporary building erected
for this purpose, which consisted of a ‘magnificent Doric temple,’
with two extended wings terminated by pavilions, the whole being one
hundred and fourteen feet high and four hundred and ten feet long. The
exhibition began about nine o’clock in the evening, and was introduced
by ‘a grand overture of warlike instruments composed by Mr. Handel.’
About eleven o’clock the whole building was illuminated, in which state
it continued till between two and three in the morning; His Majesty and
the royal family retiring about twelve.
The untimely death of the Prince of Wales in 1751 threw London into
mourning, the fan following suit with a portrait bust of Frederick on
a cenotaph, with mourning figures of Art, Science, and Britannia, a
figure of Hope with an anchor occupying the foreground. The fan here,
true to its antecedents, discovers more loyalty than did some of the
rhymesters of the period, one of whom produced an epitaph of which the
following is a portion:—
... ‘Since ‘tis only Fred,
Who was alive and is dead.
There’s no more to be said.’
Wolfe’s victory in 1759, commemorated in Bow statuettes and
Staffordshire busts and jugs, supplied the fan-makers also with a
subject for illustration: in a life of Wolfe it is mentioned that fans
were printed of the taking of Quebec.
Admiral Rodney is another instance in which both potters and fanmakers
vied with each other in honouring the hero of the hour. The fan in the
Schreiber collection is delicately engraved in mezzotint, and shows
Rodney trampling upon the French and Spanish flags. Neptune is offering
a sea crown, while a Cupid above bears a laurel wreath. The picture
is supplemented by festoons, ribbons, and other devices; the whole
coloured by hand.
The fan abundantly testifies to the popularity of the reigning house of
Hanover. Thus we have, in addition to the loyal fans already referred
to, a medallion portrait of George III., held in the hand of Neptune,
who is seated in his chariot drawn by four horses, and driven by a
Cupid who blows a blast from a trumpet. This designed by Uwins and
engraved in stipple by Cardon.
The king also appears as the subject of a large medallion on a pedestal
surrounded by Cupids and a figure of Fame with trumpet. In the
foreground are figures of Britannia and Commerce; on a tripod with a
flaming heart is inscribed, ‘The Heart of the Nation.’ On each side the
initials G. R. and the royal crown. Published May 13, 1791, by A. P.
Birman, the fan being signed A. P. Birnam, Inv^t.; W. Hinks, Sculp^t.
This fan leaf is a free copy from that engraved by D. Chodowiecki in
1787, commemorating the accession of Frederick William II. to the
throne of Prussia, and was made to do duty both for the King and the
Duke of York by the alteration of the bust, and the substitution of the
initials D. Y. for G. R., the arabesques re-engraved.
The royal family appear on six medallion portraits united by a ribbon,
with the royal crown, feathers, and a trophy of arms, flags, etc., the
latter indicating the martial proclivities of the Duke of York.[153]
Another fan gives a large Royal Arms surmounted by the crowned lion,
with the rose and thistle and the initials G. R. in medallions on
either side, united by festoons of flowers with doves; the royal motto,
‘Dieu et mon Droit,’ on a scroll below; the fan inscribed, ‘Vive Le
Roy.’ Published by T. Balster, March 19, 1789.
A ‘Representation of a Royal Concert at Buckingham House’ is a copy of
an engraving by Barlow after a drawing by Cruikshank. ‘Publish’d as the
Act directs, October 16, 1781, by J. Preston at his Music Warehouse,
No. 97, near Beaufort Buildings, Strand.’ In the subject occupying the
centre of the fan, the king appears seated at the right-hand corner. At
the sides, a canone and canzonet by Giordani, together with a French
and Venetian canzonet, with music.
In 1788 the royal family honoured the exhibition of the Royal Academy
with a visit; this event being commemorated on two fans varying
considerably in the number and disposition of the figures, and in the
arrangement of the background. The fan leaf in the Schreiber collection
is designed by ‘P. Ramberg, P. Martini, Sculpt. Pub^d March 6, 1789,
by A. Poggi, St. George’s Row, Hyde Park,’ this being from Martini’s
original plate, also published by Poggi, cut down to the shape of a fan.
The fan leaf at present in the collection at South Kensington is
printed on vellum and tinted, and is accompanied by an engraved key to
the different personages depicted on the fan.
[Illustration: Visit of George III. to the Royal Academy.
Mr F. Perigal.]
The marriage of the Prince of Wales (afterwards George IV.) to Princess
Caroline of Brunswick, in 1795, provides the occasion for a fan, with
two oval medallion portraits in stipple of ‘The Illustrious Pair,’ on
either side of a large Prince of Wales’s feathers. ‘Publish’d Jan^{ry}
1, 1795, by J. Read, 133 Pall Mall.’ The same plate was printed in
colours and published on the same date. The ‘Royal Pair’ again appear
in the form of medallion portraits, with the Royal Arms of Great
Britain and Brunswick. Still another fan commemorative of this event
shows bust portraits of the prince and princess in the midst of a
medley of prints, riddles, etc., with a frieze of caricature busts of
various personages. ‘Published at Sudlow’s Fan Warehouse, 191 Strand.’
‘The Prince of Wales’ (Schreiber collection of unmounted fan leaves,
No. 11) is a quite charming fan leaf. The medallion portrait is printed
in a warm brown, the field of the fan painted in blue of a pleasant
quality, the ornaments painted in silver and Chinese white. This is a
scheme of colour adopted on many fans of the period; the four colours
forming an extremely effective harmony.
The popularity of Lord Howe’s victory over the French on the ‘glorious
first of June,’ 1794, is evinced by the frequency with which it was
commemorated on English pottery in the shape of statuettes, medallions,
mugs, jugs, etc. On the fan also we have the subject of a seated
Britannia bearing a medallion portrait of the admiral; the union jack,
lion, cornucopia, and a figure of Fame completing the composition.
The fan inscribed, ‘Lord Howe’s decisive victory over the Grand
French fleet, June 1, 1794.’ This published by B. Coker, 118 Fleet
Street, August 19, 1794. An example occurs in the collection of Mr.
Burdett-Coutts.
A ‘view of the trial of Warren Hastings, Esq., at Westminster Hall’ in
1778, is given in the centre of a fan having oval medallions at the
sides with references to the numbers on the engraving, as follows:—
‘A. Hon^{ble} House of Commons. B. Foreign Ministers. C. Duke of
Newcastle’s Gallery. D. Councell for the Prosecution. E. Councell
for the Prisoner. F. Dukes, &c. &c. G. Peeresses. H. Board of Works.
I. The Throne. K. Recess for His Majesty. L. Recess for the Royal
Family. M. Judges. N. Lord High Chancellor. O. Vicounts and Barons.
P. Warren Hastings, Esq., Prisoner. Q. Committee of the House of
Commons.
‘Publish’d as the Act directs by Cock & Co., No. 36 Snow Hill.
Sept^r. 22nd, 1788.’
Church-fans appeared in the early part of the century.[154] These
were designed for the purpose of inculcating the spirit of true piety
during the hours of divine worship. Comments were made in the public
journals on the unsuitable character of fan mounts used in church,
and also on the general behaviour of persons of both sexes. These
culminated in an amusing satire which appeared in the form of a letter
from Vetustus, in the _Gentleman’s Magazine_ for May 1753. In this the
writer expresses some surprise that ‘in the course of the controversy
now on foot concerning the expedience of a revision of our liturgy, no
mention has been made of some ceremonies introduced by certain polite
persons of both sexes, who, if they may not be styled the _pillars_,
have undoubted right to be called the _ornaments_ of the Church of
England. That of the snuff-box may be allowed to obviate some part of
the objection to the _length_ of the service, since it precludes the
drowsy members of the congregation from any subterfuge in that excuse
of Horace:
“Operi longo fas est obrepere somnum.”
The writer desires also ‘to do a piece of justice to the ladies who
have lately contrived to improve the service of the Church, though
by so inconsiderable an implement as a fan mount; for, reflecting
that some of the grosser sex may probably come to church chiefly on
account of these fair beings, and that the devotion of these their
brethren might cool by having the immediate object of it withdrawn
from their view, during the tedious intervals of prayer, they have
been so charitable as to supply them with some edifying subjects of
contemplation, depicted on the very cloud which intercepts the beatific
vision.’
As an instance of the taste and discretion of these fair votaries, a
list is subjoined of a dozen designs elegantly executed, which were
actually displayed by way of screens to so many pretty faces, disposed
in a semicircular arrangement about the holy table:
1. Darby and Joan, with their attributes.
2. Harlequin, Pierrot, and Columbine.
3. The Prodigal Son with his harlots, copied from the ‘Rake’s
Progress.’
4. A rural dance, with a band of musick, consisting of a fiddle, a
bag-pipe, and a Welch-harp.
5. The taking of Porto Bello.
6. The Solemnities of a Filiation.
7. Joseph and his Mistress.
8. The humours of Change-Alley.
9. Silenus, with his proper symbols and supporters.
10. The first interview of Isaac and Rebecca.
11. The Judgment of Paris.
12. Vauxhall Gardens, with the decorations and company.
The writer is ‘well aware that the authors of the free and candid
disquisitions will be humbly suggesting, in their canting way, whether
some of these figures may be altogether suitable to the original
design of that sacred rite, at which they assist on these occasions;
and whether, if our British ladies are too nicely modest to worship
God with naked faces, they should not return to the ancient simplicity
of a plain linnen or Sarcenet veil, after the manner of the Jewish
females. But, besides that all impropriety is absolutely removed from
these representations by the mixture of so much Scripture history,
these Cavillers must be told that this is an old objection answered and
baffled long ago by the pious and conscientious Dr. Swift (whose tender
concern for the honour of the Church of England is well known) in a
religious sonnet which closes with an elevated sentiment couched in
the following couplet:
“How beauteous is the Church, which makes clean linnen
As decent to repent in, as to sin in.”’
This bone of contention, apparently, lasted during a considerable
period.
In the _Lady’s Magazine_ for March 1776, a ‘Female Reformer’ addresses
to the fair sex some ‘moral reflections’ on ladies’ fans, and draws
attention to the loose, almost indecent, mounts ladies have to their
fans at the present day, giving too much reason to suppose that a
coarse, indelicate, and immodest picture is not so offensive to the
view of the fair as prudence, virtue, and chastity could wish. ‘Not
many Sundays ago, I was seated in a dissenting place of worship in
the next pew to two young ladies, who appeared suitably attentive and
devout; but, happening to cast my eyes on the fan mount of the youngest
of the two, as she stood up in prayer time, I was really ashamed to
see _naked Cupids, and women almost so_, represented as sleeping under
trees, while dancing shepherds and piping fawns compleated the shameful
groupe. What a pity it is that any lady should seem to countenance
immodesty or indecency in the least degree, especially in the house of
God! Would it not have been much better for ladies to have no fans at
all, than to have such mounts to them, as, on beholding, tend only to
inflame the passions, and promote the loosest ideas?’
Evidently this protest bore good fruit, as, three months later, a
church-fan of chaste design appeared. This gives, in the centre, a
diagram of a good woman’s heart, divided, as a phrenological diagram
divides the brain, into the several virtues or attributes, as Charity,
Humility, Chastity and Honour, Virtue and Truth, etc. etc. Above
the heart appears a drapery inscribed, ‘The Address of a Scripture
Looking-glass to every Woman’—this consisting of the following texts:
Proverbs xxxi. 30; 1 Peter iii. 3; 1 Timothy iv. 8. At the two
extremities of the fan are scrolls with ‘a description of a good
woman,’ and a poem entitled ‘The Wish’—this latter being a prayer and
supplication to the Almighty to
‘Be the guardian of the virtuous fair,
Bless them with all things that they truly need,
And in Religion’s paths their footsteps lead.’
The whole design enclosed in a scroll with a rose and honeysuckle
filling the intervening spaces. Printed, as the Act directs, for J.
French, No. 17 Holborn Hill.
In May 1796 ‘the new church-fan’ appears, a much more pretentious
design, engraved in stipple, and ‘published with the Approbation of
the Lord Bishop of London.’ The Ten Commandments are given in the
centre, with the Lord’s Prayer and the Creed on either side; these are
alternated with medallions of angels, above which are prayers for the
king’s majesty and the royal family. At the extreme top of the fan is a
figure of the Holy Spirit with three cherubs, the whole being enclosed
within an elaborate border formed of royal crowns and Prince of Wales’s
feathers.
Mindful of the protest of the ‘Female Reformer’ in the _Lady’s
Magazine_, although perhaps somewhat belated (it will be remembered
that the ‘naked Cupids and ladies almost so’ were observed in a
_dissenting_ place of worship), the ‘_chapel_-fan’ appears, in July
of this same year, 1796, having in the centre a large medallion of
the resurrection of a pious family, after a picture by the Rev. W.
Peters, inscribed, ‘Glory to God in the Highest,’ and on either side
smaller medallions representing ‘St. Cecilia’ and ‘The Infant Samuel
at Prayer.’ The fan is further inscribed with a morning and evening
prayer and two hymns—‘The Example of Christ,’ and ‘On Retirement and
Meditation.’
A number of fans were from time to time issued with subjects from
Scripture history, doubtless for church use, as ‘The Birth of Esau and
Jacob,’ in which we have an illustration of Rebekah in bed, attended
by female servants; ‘Moses striking the Rock,’ _Published by M.
Gamble, according to the late Act_, 1740; ‘Paul Preaching at Athens,’
etc. These, however, are extremely weak productions, exhibiting none of
that sense of character distinguishing similar subjects treated by the
Staffordshire potter of this and a later period.
Mr. Thomas Osborne’s _Duck-Hunting_ records an event in the history
of a bookseller of Gray’s Inn Gate, Holborn, at his country-house at
Hampstead in 1754. A certain Captain Pratten, who had obtained some
notoriety through his very particular attentions to the wife of Mr.
Scarlett, an optician of Soho, ‘whose Microscope for viewing opake
objects is still in use,’ but who, apparently, did not possess any
microscope or optic glass through which he might view events which were
sufficiently transparent to every one but himself, had proposed to Mr.
Osborne that by way of house-warming he should ingratiate himself with
the families of Hampstead, ‘then a Watering-place and very gay,’ by
giving a public breakfast for the ladies and a duck-hunting for the
gentlemen.
On the morning of the 10th of September of the year in question the
company assembled, the broad panniered petticoats of the ladies making
a very brave array, and, the breakfast and duck-hunting proving so
successful, our waggish Captain, who had installed himself master of
the ceremonies, mindful, doubtless, of his own private and particular
duck-hunting, persuaded the vain and simple bookseller to prolong the
entertainment, first by a cold collation and other diversions, and
finally by a dance, in which the ‘younger part of the company tripped
on the light fantastic toe till bedtime.’
As a souvenir of the event, the gallant and resourceful Captain further
persuaded Mr. Osborne to have a fan engraved and presented to each of
the lady visitors.
[Illustration: Mr Thomas Osborne’s Duck Hunting,
Schreiber Coll^n., British Museum.
obverse & reverse.]
This is engraved on both sides; on the obverse, the duck-hunting,
with the Captain and his innamorata in the immediate foreground; on
the reverse, a general view of the house and grounds.[155]
Conversation- or speaking-fans are devices by which the different
motions of the fan are made to correspond with the letters of the
alphabet, a code being established by means of which a silent and
secret conversation is carried on.
Five signals are given, corresponding to the five divisions of the
alphabet, the different letters, omitting the J, being capable of
division into five, the movements 1 2 3 4 5 corresponding to each
letter in each division. 1. By moving the fan with left hand to right
arm. 2. The same movement, but with right hand to left arm. 3. Placing
against bosom. 4. Raising it to the mouth. 5. To forehead.
Example:—Suppose _Dear_ to be the word to be expressed. D belonging to
the first division, the fan must be moved to the right; then, as the
number underwritten is 4, the fan is raised to the mouth. E, belonging
to the same division, the fan is likewise moved to the right, and,
as the number underwritten is 5, the fan is lifted to the head and
so forth. The termination of each word is distinguished by a full
display of the fan, and as the whole directions with illustrations are
displayed on the fan, this language is more simple than at first sight
might appear.
The _Gentleman’s Magazine_ for 1740 prints the following effusion,
referring presumably to one of the earliest of these fans:—
‘A speaking fan! a very pretty thought;
The toy is sure to full perfection brought:
It is a noble, useful, great design,
May the projector’s genius ever shine!
The fair one now need never be alone!
A hardship sometimes on the sex is thrown;
For female notions are of that extent
Impossible, one I thought should give ‘em vent.
New schemes of dress, intrigue and play,
Want new expressions every day:
And doubly blest! must be that mortal man,
Who may converse with Sylvia and her Fan.’
‘The Original Fanology, or Ladies’ Conversation fan,’ was invented by
Charles Francis Badini, and published as the Act directs by Wm. Cock,
42 Pall Mall, Aug. 7, 1797.
‘The telegraph of Cupid in this fan,
Though you should find, suspect no wrong;
‘Tis but a simple and diverting plan
For Ladies to chit-chat and hold the tongue.’
A fanology fan, of different design but with the same directions,
invented by Badini, was published five months earlier (March 18) by
Robert Clarke, Fanmaker, No. 26 Strand, London.
The new conversation or tête-a-tête fan gives as a centre medallion
Venus robbing Cupid of his Bow, with inscribed compartments on both
sides, having reference to the Answer and Question of the Lady to the
Gentleman.
The language of the fan has already been referred to in an earlier
chapter, portions of the code being given. See Spanish fans, page 137.
Gypsy, fortune-telling and necromantic fans form a large class, and
were common during the latter part of the eighteenth century. As early,
however, as Aug. 3, 1734, a necromantic fan was advertised in the
_Craftsman_ as follows:—
‘By Eo, Meo, & Areo.
On Monday last was published
The Necromantick Fan; or, Magick Glass.
Being a new-invented Machine Fan, that by a
slight Touch unseen a Lady in the Fan changes her
Dressing-Glass according to the following Invitations:
If any one himself would see,
Pray send the Gentleman to me:
For in my Magick Glass I show
The Pedant, Poet, Cit, or Beau;
Likewise a Statesman wisely dull,
Whose plodding Head’s with Treaties full.
Etc.
Made and sold by EDWARD VAUGHAN,
Fanmaker, at the Golden Fan near the Chapel in
Russel Court, Drury Lane.’
A necromantic fan was issued by Gamble; ‘Dear Doctor consult the
Stars,’ representing an old necromancer being consulted by ladies.
‘Gypsy’ fans are invariably arranged according to a regular principle.
A medallion in the centre, of a Gypsy telling fortunes, the different
cards, together with their significance, arranged in four rows over
the general field of the fan, and at the top, or on the reverse, the
explanation, or directions for telling fortunes. The ‘Gypsy Fan’
conforms to this rule so far as the medallion is concerned: in lieu,
however, of the cards with their explanation we have a series of floral
festoons, borders, etc., painted by hand. The fan ‘made by Clarke and
Co., at their Warehouse, the King’s Arms, near Charing Cross, Strand,
London. Inventors of the much esteemed sliding Pocket Fan.’[156]
The ‘Oracle’ has in the centre a wheel of fortune with two winged
children on clouds, one of whom holds a scroll inscribed ‘Oracle.’ On
the sides of the fan the names of the ten greater gods and goddesses,
in ten columns, the names disposed differently in each. On the lower
part of the fan the ‘Explication’ of the Oracle, and ‘examples’
together with the questions, as—‘Whether one is to get Riches; Whether
one will be successful in Love; What sort of a Husband shall I have’;
etc. etc. On the reverse are heads of the gods and goddesses with their
attributes, with ten columns of inscriptions, each containing ten
answers to questions.
Pub. accord. to Act, Jany. 1, 1800, by Ino. Cock, I. P. Crowder & Co.,
No. 21 Wood Street, Cheapside, London.
The ‘Wheel of Fortune, by which may be known most things that can be
required,’ presents us with a variation of the foregoing. The wheel
occupies the centre of the fan, with four female heads representing—1.
Bath Gypsy. 2. Norwood Gypsy. 3. Corsican Gypsy. 4. York Gypsy. On the
one side of the fan, ‘Phisiognomy,’ with directions how to read it;
on the other, ‘Perilous Days,’ with a prognostication of the date and
manner of death of Napoleon, viz., by suffocation or drowning, at the
latter end of 1810 or beginning of 1812. J. Fleetwood, Sc., 48 Fetter
Lane.
An interesting class of fans is that illustrating popular and
fashionable resorts, entertainments, etc., as Bartholomew Fair, Bath,
Ranelagh, Vauxhall Gardens, the Crescent at Buxton, etc.
Henry Morley, in his interesting _Memoirs of Bartholomew Fair_,
has given us an amusing description of the fan sold in that annual
saturnalia, where Henry Fielding once had an interest.
‘Here are drolls, hornpipe-dancing, and showing of postures;
Plum-porridge, black pudding, and opening of oysters:
The tap-house guests swearing, and gallery folks squalling,
With salt-boxes solus, and mouth-pieces bawling;
Pimps, pick-pockets, strollers, fat landladies, sailors,
Bawds, baileys, jilts, jockies, thieves, tumblers, and taylors.
Here’s Punch’s whole game of the gun-powder plot, sir,
Wild beasts all alive, and pease porridge hot, sir;
Fine sausages fried, and the black on the wire;
The whole court of France, and nice pig at the fire;
The ups-and-downs, who’ll take a seat in the chair-o,
There are more ups and downs than at Bartleme Fair-o.’
G. A. STEVENS. 18th Cent.
The humours of the piece are mainly technical. Our Bartholomew artist,
having his own views of perspective, has carefully economised the
number of his figures and left out at discretion bodies or legs in the
treatment of which he was embarrassed. Thus the leg of a drinking-stall
serves also for the wooden leg of a bibulous person standing by. A man
with, apparently, but one arm, salutes, in a manner at once distant
and peculiar, an apple-woman, who lifts up her basket _by the apples
that are in it_. Our artist, finding that the fourth stall of his
machine ‘Ups and Downs’ would complicate his picture, has left it out
altogether, and with a view also to artistic effect, has denied legs
to the gentleman who is tasting his ale with so much relish, while the
hot sausages (for these curious figures of eight _are_ intended for
sausages) grow cold upon his plate.
Pie Corner, with its delicate pig and pork, is depicted, with Sir
Robert Walpole, orders and all, issuing from the shop.
The fan is engraved in mezzotint, the various subjects forming a very
excellent mosaic of pattern: it was re-engraved and published by J. F.
Setchel in 1829, and was accompanied by a description of the fair, in
which the date of 1721 was assigned to the original. This and other
inaccuracies being first pointed out by Henry Morley, who showed that
the Droll of the siege of Bethulia, containing the ancient history of
Judith and Holofernes, with the comical humours of Rustego and his man
Terrible, said to be performing in Lee and Harper’s Booth, was not
presented at that famous establishment until 1732.[157]
A version of the well-known print, after Canaletto, of the Rotunda,
garden, and buildings at Ranelagh is given on a fan in the Schreiber
collection, engraved by N. Parr, 1751.
A view of the Crescent at Buxton also appears enclosed in an oval
medallion, with the inscription, ‘Crescent, Buxton.’
The following advertisements relative to these subjects appeared in the
_Craftsman_:—
‘June 15, 1734.
‘Just Published. By Jonathan Pinchbeck, Fan Maker, etc.
(accurately delineated on a Fan Mount)
‘The Humours of New Tunbridge Wells; being a Draught of the House,
Gardens, Well, Walks, etc., with the different Airs, Gestures, and
Behaviour of the Company, and all other rural Entertainments of the
Place. Taken from the Life: by an eminent Hand.’
‘July 2, 1737.
‘_This day is Published_
‘The new Vaux Hall Fan; or the rural Harmony and delightful Pleasures
of Vaux-Hall Gardens; with the different Air, Altitude, and Decorum
of the Company that frequent that beautiful place; done to its utmost
Beauty and Perfection.
‘Whereon is shewn the Walks, the Orchestra, the grand Pavillion, and
the Organ, which far excels any Thing of the kind yet offer’d to the
Publick.
‘Sold at Pinchbeck’s Fan Warehouse, etc.
‘Where may be had, The Dumb Oracle; and the Royal Repository, or
Merlin’s Cave; and all sorts of Fans of the newest Fashion, wholesale
or retail.’
[Illustration: The Trial of Warren Hastings.
Mr. W. Burdett-Coutts. M.P.]
[Illustration: The Parades of Bath, 1737.
Mr. W. Burdett-Coutts. M.P.]
In the interesting fan, giving, within a large cartouche, a view of the
Parades, and Old Assembly Rooms at Bath, 1737, Beau Nash appears in
the foreground in lilac coat, with a white hat under his arm,[158]
addressing a bevy of fashionable ladies; at the sides are floral and
diapered ornaments in the Chinese taste.
The example illustrated, which is coloured with extreme care, was
acquired by the Baroness Burdett-Coutts at the Walker sale in 1882.
This is the mount referred to by Pinchbeck in his advertisement of
‘June 3, 1738.
‘This day is Published on a Fan Mount (Fit for the Second Mourning or
in colours) An accurate and lively Prospect of the celebrated Grove
at Bath, whereon the rural Pleasures and exact Decorum of the company
are curiously represented, with some cursory Observations on the
Behaviour of Sundry Persons, particularly the famous B. N.
‘Likewise the rural Harmony and delightful Pleasures of Vaux-Hall
Gardens. Also the Royal Repository, or Merlin’s Cave; being an exact
Emblem of that beautiful Structure erected by the late Queen in the
Royal Gardens at Richmond.
‘Sold wholesale or retail at Pinchbeck’s Fan Warehouse, etc., by Mr.
Crowbrow, at the India House on the Walks: and at Mr. Dalassol’s and
Mr. Weakstead’s Shops in the Grove at Bath.’
Two fans were published in June 1757 by G. Speren, giving a view of the
interior of the Pump-Room at Bath, and the Orange Grove, with obelisk,
garden, and buildings.
Lady Charlotte Schreiber quotes the following advertisement which
appeared in the _Craftsman_ during this year:—
‘This day is publish’d, by Jonathan Pinchbeck, Fan-maker, at the Fan
and Crown in New Road-Court in the Strand, and sold by him Wholesale
and Retail.
‘The Bath Medley; Being an accurate and curious Draught of the
Pump Room at Bath, and most of the known Company who frequent it,
adorn’d with the Portraitures of her Royal Highness the Princess
Amelia[159] and other illustrious personages who honour’d the Place
with their Presence the last Season; wherein the Topicks of Discourse
and Conversations of Companies are impartially consider’d; their
different Behaviours, Airs, Attitudes, etc., judiciously represented;
the Foppery of the Beaus hinted at, and the Intrigues of the famous
B— N— and others fully exploded. Taken from the Life, and finely
delineated in above fifty Hieroglyphical figures.
‘_N.B._—A spurious pyratical Copy of this Fan is lately publish’d,
which is not like the Place it should represent, and may easily be
discover’d from the Original by its having Pillars to support the
Musick Gallery, and in the Middle is wrote The Bath Medley.’
The first Pump-Room was opened in 1706, with all the éclat of a public
procession, and a musical fête, at which was sung a song specially
composed in honour of King Bladud, the father of Lear, and mythical
founder of Bath, recounting the story of his glorious deeds, and his
soaring ambition, which, Icarus-like, finally overreached itself.[160]
The sequel to the story is to be found in the following quotation in
Meehan, _Famous Houses of Bath_:—
‘Vex’d at the brutes alone possessing
What ought to be a common blessing:
He drove them thence in mighty wrath,
And built the stately town of Bath.
The Hogs, thus banished by the Prince,
Have liv’d in Bristol ever since!’
The Pump-Room illustrated on the fan was erected in 1732, and was,
together with the Assembly-rooms, really the creation of Beau Nash, who
persuaded one Thomas Harrison to build a room for dancing on the east
side of the Grove, with access to the bowling-green, which then became
known as Harrison’s Walks. To maintain his supremacy, Nash rented the
Pump-Room from the corporation, and put it under the charge of an
officer called the Pumper, and for a while induced Harrison to accept
three guineas a week for the Assembly-rooms and candles.[161]
The Grove was re-named the Orange Grove by this same worthy, who
erected the obelisk in the centre in commemoration of the visit of the
Prince of Orange who came to Bath for the benefit of his health.
IN MEMORIAM
SANITATIS
PRINCIPI AURIACO
AQUARUM THERMALIUM POTU
FAVENTE DEO
OVANTE BRITANNIA
FELICITER RESTITUTAE
M.DCC.XXXIV.[162]
The exterior of the Rotunda, house, gardens, etc., at Ranelagh, is
given on a fan mount in the Schreiber collection, this being a copy of
a print entitled ‘Vue de l’Extérieur de la Rotonde. Maison & Jardins,
etc., à Ranelagh. ‘Canaleti, delin.’ ‘N. Parr, sculpt.’ Published
according to Act of Parliament. December 2, 1751.’
Opera fans give plans of the boxes at the Opera, with names of the
occupants. An example in the Schreiber collection is inscribed: ‘New
Opera Fan for 1797. W. Cock. Publish’d as the Act Directs for the
Proprietor, by Permission of the Manager of the Opera House, 42 Pall
Mall.’
The following advertisement appeared in the _Times_ of January 1, 1788:—
‘THE OPERA FANS.
‘To the subscribers and frequenters of the King’s Theatre.
‘Last Saturday were published according to _Act of Parliament_. The
Delivery, however, was put off until the re-opening of the Opera
House next week, for the purpose of presenting them in the best state
of improvement.
‘These fans are calculated to present at one view both the number of
boxes including the additional ones, names of subscribers, etc., and
have been carefully compared with the plan of the House or kept at
the office, and will be sold only by the proprietor, Mrs. H. M., No.
81 Haymarket, where she will receive with respectful gratitude any
commands from the ladies and wait on them if required.’
A fan published on the same date, January 1, 1788, by Clarke and Co.,
appears in the Schreiber collection, and gives the plan of the King’s
Theatre for 1788; the centre box bears the names of the Duke and
Duchess of Cumberland and that of the Duke of York; the Prince of Wales
and Mrs. Fitzherbert being in box sixty-three on the right.[163]
Fans illustrative of the ‘tender passion’ naturally form a large class,
and may be divided into the following groups:—
1. Satirical and Amusing.
2. Pastoral, Social, and Fancy.
3. Subjects from Classic Mythology, as ‘The Marriage of Cupid and
Psyche,’ ‘The Theft of Cupid’s Bow,’ ‘The Offering of Love,’ etc.
Maps of the affections were common both in this country and on the
Continent, and are invariably designed on the principle of the Italian
fan, ‘Il Paese del Matrimonio,’ referred to page 269.
The following advertisement appeared in the _Craftsman_ for January 13,
1732-3:—
‘Daniel Chandler, Fan maker in the Strand over against Southampton
St., who invented and sold the Lilliputian Fans,[164] and Variety of
other pleasant Fans, is now provided with a Parcel of fashionable
Fans, neatly mounted, representing the map of Tender, which may
afford Entertainment both for Ladies and Gentlemen who are Tenderly
inclined, and disposed to be agreeably merry.
‘These fans and Mounts are likewise sold by Michael Burnet, Fan
maker, at the Hand and Fan, over against Friday St. in Cheapside.’
On the same date, Saturday, January 13, 1732-3, Pinchbeck announces the
‘Courting Fan Mounts.’
‘An Embleme of the Four different Stages of life finely delineated
in seven hieroglyphical Figures. Being a lively representation of
the Address of young Lovers, the Raptures of a new-married couple;
the reciprocal Harmony of Antient wedded companions; and the abject,
wretched state of an Old Maid. Illustrated with a Paraphrase, on each
cut, which serves as a Key to the whole.
‘_N.B._—At the abovesaid Place may be had all sorts of Fans and
Fan-mounts of the newest Fashion, and at the lowest prices, wholesale
or retail.’
On April 20, 1734, Pinchbeck advertises:
‘The Old Man’s Folly.—In this Fan is represented an old Miser, who at
the age of Fourscore had the Vanity to court a young lady of Twenty;
she despises his Addresses, and Cupid shoots Thunder at his Head:
in this Dilemma, Bacchus invites him to a Banquet at the Nectarius
Grove; whilst the Eye of Heaven shines propitious on the Raptures of
a youthful couple.
‘Where may be had
‘The abject, wretched state of an Old Maid, and divers other curious
Fans; the Designs taken from the best Masters.’
These two fans had been announced earlier by Pinchbeck on Jan. 15th of
the same year, as follows:—
‘Just Published.... The Amours of an Old Batchellor, or the Downfall
of Sir Limberham; likewise the four different Stages of Life; or the
abject, wretched State of an Old Maid. To each of these Fans are
prefix’d, Verses suitable to the Occasion, which explain the Design.’
M. Gamble, on August 11, 1739, advertises
‘A new Fan, wherein is delineated a Damsel bewailing the Loss of her
Lover, who is represented as cast away in a Storm.
‘Where may also be had, a Fan lately publish’d entitled The Sailor’s
Wedding, being made to the glorious and immortal Majesty of Queen
Elizabeth.’
‘Before and after Marriage’ gives expression to an idea which also
supplied a favourite _motif_ for English and especially Staffordshire
pottery. On a cream ware jug, with illustrations of courtship and
matrimony, we have the following couplets expressive of the two
contrasting conditions:—
‘In courtship Strephon careful hands his lass
Over a stile a child with ease might pass.’
* * * * *
‘But wedded, Strephon now neglects his dame,
Tumble or not, to him ‘tis all the same.’
The fan leaf, published in Paris, but also issued in England,
illustrates two scenes, in the former of which Cupid smiles
approvingly: in the latter, Cupid in the background is overwhelmed
with grief at this instance of Strephon’s indifference; above are
inscriptions in French and Spanish: ‘La Complaisance de l’Amant ou Huit
jours avant,’ and ‘L’indifférence du Mari ou Huit jours après.’ The
fan etched from drawings by William Williams, a name which suggests an
English origin of the idea.
[Illustration: A Trip to Gretna.
Schreiber Coll^n, British Museum.]
[Illustration: ‘Bartolozzi’ Fan.
Mrs Frank W. Gibson. (Eugènie Joachim.)]
A similar contrast is drawn in two fans published by J. Read, Feb. 20,
and Nov. 1, 1795, 133 Pall Mall: ‘The Good Swain’ gives three oval
medallions of ‘The Morning of Youth,’ ‘Mid-Day of Life,’ and ‘Chearful
Evening of Old Age,’ each subject being provided with four lines of
verse commencing with, ‘Unless with my Amanda blest.’
The ‘Good-for-nothing Swain’ gives ‘The Vow of Constancy,’ ‘The Hour
of Infidelity,’ and ‘Cupid’s Farewell,’ the verses commencing, ‘With
soothing Smiles he won my easy heart.’
Both fans bear the name of ‘G. Wilson,’ who appears on a number of fans
of this period both as designer, engraver, and publisher, and evidently
supplied designs, or stock, to other publishers.
Among the more successful humorous fans are those giving, in a series
of medallions along the border of the fan, ‘A selection of Beau’s,
Whimsical, Comical, and Eccentrical; or Candidates for the Ladies’
Favour’; and ‘The Ladies’ Bill of Fare, or a Copious Collection of
Beaux.’ The various kinds of lovers are each provided with a suitable
inscription above and below, as: ‘A Spark of some Conceit, Let me die
if I don’t believe she thinks of me Night and Day,’ ‘A Man of high
price, I am determined not to Marry any Woman under a Dutchess,’ etc.
‘The Merry Lover,’ and ‘I Live, Love, and Laugh,’ etc. In the centre of
the fans, underneath a flying Cupid, are verses in further elucidation
of the subject:
‘That simple thing—A woman’s Heart,
How oft ‘tis play’d upon;
What Beau’s oft cause its painful smart,
And triumph when they’ve done.’
‘Mark well our Motley Group above,
The little shun—the Honest love.’
and on ‘The Ladies’ Bill of Fare’:
‘To plague and please all womankind,
Here’s Gallants sure a plenty!—
Chuse then a Beau to suit your mind,
Or change ‘till one content ye.’
These fans are engraved in mixed line and stipple, the name ‘G. Wilson,
del^t.,’ appearing on the first mentioned, with ‘London, published
May 25, 1795, by I. Read, No. 133 Pall Mall.’ On the latter, ‘Published
as the Act directs by G. Wilson, 14 Feb. 1795, 108 St. Martin’s Lane.’
Other fans having reference to the affections, and issued by the same
publisher, are: ‘The Progress of Love’ in the five stages of ‘Cupid
Relieved’; ‘Amantha Rewarded’; ‘Pastime of Love’; ‘Altar of Hymen’;
‘Connubial Bliss’; ‘The Lady’s Adviser, Physician, and Moralist, or,
Half-an-Hour’s Entertainment at the Expense of Nobody!’ and ‘The Quiz
Club’—the latter giving twelve circular medallions of ridiculous
characters round the border of the fan, with suitable descriptions
underneath:
‘This young Spark is perfectly a man of Taste—dresses like a
gentleman—swears like a Nabob, and believes the Ladies think him a
clever fellow.’
* * * * *
‘This Man (wonderful man he should be called) is a learned Ass.
Speaks gramatically nice, looks very solemn, and expects y^e Ladies
to understand his consequence, happy are they who win his smiles.’
* * * * *
‘A fit Man for a closet—give this gentleman retirement, he requires
to bear Comp^y with none but invissibles—Gods, Goddesses, Genii,
Fauns, Sylphs, Naiads, Dryads, & y^e like.’
‘An unfit Man to be alone—one that his associates have nicknamed Bob
Drowsy, he can find no amusement but in his tongue, & if he is left
half an hour alone he falls asleep.’
In an oval medallion in the centre is the following:—
‘THE QUIZ CLUB.
Dedicated to all Beaus in Christendom.
By S. A., Professor of Physiognomy and Correction of the Heart.
Dear Madam, ask your loving Quiz
If here he ‘Spies his own Dear Phiz;
And if mark’d out some fault he find,
Like one or two which warp his mind,
Bid the defaulter hence amend
And be the Sexes honour’d friend.
‘Publish’d by Ashton & Co., No. 28 Little Britain, May 1st, 1797, &
Enter’d at Stationers’ Hall.’
Trips to Gretna were among the earliest results of the abolition of
Fleet marriages by Lord Hardwicke’s New Marriage Act of 1753, one of
the most famous of these clandestine marriages being that of Richard
Lovell Edgeworth ten years later. The fan illustrates, in six scenes,
the progress of a love match from the first meeting, to a marriage
at Gretna, and final forgiveness by the bride’s father—‘The First
Impression,’ ‘Mutual Declaration,’ ‘The Refusal,’ ‘The Flight,’ ‘The
Journey’s End,’ ‘The Reconciliation.’
This subject also formed a favourite _motif_ for the Staffordshire
potter of the period, who produced a number of groups characterised
by that quaint humour which appears to be native to him. It will be
observed that in the fan, as in the pottery figure groups, the popular
idea of the ‘blacksmith’ is perpetuated. This popular notion, however,
is thus disposed of by Jeaffreson, the historian of matrimony (_Brides
and Bridals_): ‘There is no evidence that any one of the Gretna Green
marriages was solemnised in a smithy, or that any one of the famous
Gretna Green ‘couplers’ ever followed the smith’s calling. One of these
so-called parsons had been a common soldier, another a tobacconist, a
third a pedlar, and all of them drunkards and cheats, but no one of
them ever shod a horse or wrought an iron bolt.’
The state of widowhood also supplies the _motif_ of a number of fans,
the subject usually taking the form of a woman in classical costume,
mourning over an altar, urn, or tomb; the central figure-subject
generally engraved in stipple, the landscape completed by hand. Several
examples are in the Schreiber collection, the most successful being
that signed ‘F. Burney, del.; H. Meyer, sculpt.’
In the third group, subjects from classic mythology, the prevailing
method or decorative scheme is that of an engraved medallion, large
or small, occupying the centre of the fan, to be enclosed in, or
incorporated with, an ornamental setting painted by hand; the character
and treatment of the subject representing that pretty, sentimental
quasi-classicism which set in about the middle of the century, and
which we associate with the names of Cipriani, Angelica Kauffmann, and
the engraver Bartolozzi. A characteristic example is the design by G.
B. Cipriani, R.A., of Orpheus and Eurydice emerging from Hades, their
way being lighted by the torch of Cupid. The medallion is engraved in
stipple, the field of the fan being completed by ornaments in black,
grey, pale blue, and silver.
A variation of this decorative scheme has three medallions with
arabesque ornamentation also engraved, the fan usually being sold
uncoloured but occasionally tinted; an example being ‘The Power of
Love’—a Cupid riding on the back of a lion, engraved by Bartolozzi
from the antique gem by Protarchos at Florence, with two smaller
medallions of Cupids. ‘Publish’d as the Act directs, March 1, 1780, by
A. Poggi.’[165]
An interesting fan in the Wyatt collection is printed on chicken skin,
with an almanac in Spanish, decorated with the signs of the Zodiac in
circles, and borders of fruit, flowers, etc., coloured and gilt. The
stick and guards of pierced and carved ivory, painted.
A class of fan popular both in France and England, during the middle
and latter half of the eighteenth century, has a medallion subject or
series of subjects superimposed upon a streamer of lace; this last
being carefully engraved and coloured, the subjects painted, often with
great elaboration. An excellent French example occurs in the Wyatt
collection, with a cartouche enclosing a battle-piece, flowers, and
insects introduced amongst the lace; the stick mother-of-pearl, gilt
and silvered, with ‘gold-fish’ inlay; the whole colour effect extremely
fine.
Printed fans were by no means confined to France and England, although
it is in these countries that the practice obtained most extensively;
fans were issued in Germany giving portraits of the Emperor Leopold II.
and his wife, Maria Louisa of Spain, and their family; of Frederick
II., who is represented as in Elysium, having just embarked from
Charon’s boat; of Frederick William III. and Queen Louise of Prussia,
and of Madame Royale, in allusion to her release in 1795 and her
subsequent arrival in Vienna. The famous engraver Chodowiecki also
produced several fans, prints of which occur in the Berlin Museum.
Two Italian examples may be referred to. The subject known as grotesque
animals was obviously executed as a central subject, the field of the
fan to be completed by hand. It is an extraordinarily skilful engraving
of a number of animals playing different antics. In the centre is a
monkey in cocked-hat and feather, extracting with a pair of forceps
a tooth from a fowl who is laying an egg the meanwhile. Sympathetic
birds are perched around, and a squirrel is in attendance with a glass
of refreshment on a tray. The design is made up of similar grotesque
incidents—as a dog with a pair of tongs over his shoulder, returning
from a rat-catching expedition; a porcupine reading a book with the aid
of a magnifying glass; a fox with two young foxes riding on the back of
a fish which is duly provided with a huge pair of spectacles, etc. etc.
The humours of the piece are too many to be described in detail. No
publisher’s or artist’s name appear. The extreme length is nine inches.
In the subject ‘Il Paese del Matrimonio,’ the centre of the fan is
occupied by a Cupid standing in a boat, saying: ‘Andiamo, chi viene al
paese del matrimonio,’ and ‘Venite, signorine, Ciascana delle vostre
madri falto prima di voi questo viaggio. La mia barca è della più
leggiere, se non vi condurre a buon porto non mi pagherete.’ On either
side are maps of two imaginary countries—Terra del celibato and Paesi
del matrimonio, with pictorial representations of the various places.
The former apparently is the country of tranquillity; on it are figured
the Tempio della pace, the Fontana della quiete, the Città dell’
independenza, the Paradiso terrestre.
The country of matrimony is approached by the Golfo del Rimprovero
which lies between the Capo della dissimulazione and the Rupe della
gelosia. In this country are discovered the Città d’isagiosa; the
Tempio della discordia, shown as falling to pieces with a volcano hard
by; the montagna dell’ infedeltà, from which springs a stream emptying
itself into the Lago dell’ indifferenza. On the farther side of this
country of unrest lies the Golfo della luna di miele.
Of the processes of engraved fans, the most usual is that of etching,
often finished (sweetened is the technical term) by means of the
graver or burin. Pure line-engraving is frequently employed, although
most line-engravers make use of the etched line as a foundation for
subsequent work with the burin. Etching is occasionally supplemented
by stipple-engraving and the free use of the roulette. Many fans
are painted in a brownish black ink with the flesh-tints in red; in
others several colours are introduced, thus anticipating the modern
process of coloured etching. This latter is practically a system of
painting upon the plate in colours, and can scarcely be considered as a
legitimate process, although the result in modern coloured etching is
often interesting, and in some instances even admirable. Aquatint was
also employed, especially during the earlier years of the nineteenth
century, on a number of fan leaves illustrating the Peninsular War.
Many of these were produced in London by Behrmann and Collman, for the
Spanish market, with inscriptions in Spanish. Portraits of the Duke of
Wellington were also popular.
After the introduction of lithography many fans were produced by means
of this process, invented by Aloys Senefelder of Munich about 1798; all
lithographed fans must therefore be of a subsequent date to this.
This process was employed as a groundwork for subsequent painting,
often carried to a high pitch of finish, so much so, that it is
difficult for any but a practical eye to detect the lithographic
foundation. Examples of these fans, which include a great variety of
subjects, appear in most collections.
[Illustration: DOUBLE HIDE FAN
(Taken from the King’s Palace at Benin, 1897. Horniman Museum, Forest
Hill.)]
Lithography has been employed during the whole of the nineteenth
century for the decoration of fans, and is largely in use at the
present time.
CHAPTER XI
MODERN AND PRESENT-DAY FANS
[Illustration]
We now gather together the various threads of our subject at the point
where they were left, viz. the close of the Empire. We have found
that during two centuries and a half—from 1600 to 1800, with a little
overlapping at either end—the fan passed through the various stages of
development and decline; that during the latter years of the sixteenth
century both Italy and France, but especially the former, produced
objects which may be legitimately described as fine art; that in
France, if we make allowance for, and accept a different standard of
taste and fashion, the most exquisitely dainty things were produced,
the period of Louis XV. being that of the highest development of the
art, with a steady decline from thence onwards.
During the first three decades of the nineteenth century the fan
languished. The storm and upheaval of the Revolution, the general
unrest caused by the Napoleonic wars, were among the chief contributing
causes, together with the fact that the great families had fled from
France, taking their fans with them. For the first fifteen years
of the century, there is little to record except a difference of
proportion. ‘Towards 1800,’ to quote M. Rondot, ‘the brins were only 6
or 7 centimetres to the gorge; towards 1813 this was increased to 8
centimetres, and to 19 centimetres in 1841.’
[Illustration: Wedding Fan, the gift of Queen Victoria, silk leaf.
H.R.H. Princess Henry of Battenberg.]
‘When the brisés returned into favour in 1804,’ continues this author,
‘the fan-makers employed leather, silver, copper, asses’ skin, and
cardboard. The blades were short, and were made by the cutters who
ornamented them; this was also the case with the fans of horn which
were fashionable towards 1829-30.’
Three examples are given of the earlier years of the century: the
first, from the collection of Miss Moss, formerly belonged to Miss
Charlotte Yonge the authoress, and is worked upon a foundation of net,
with cut and pierced steel decorations. The painted subject in the
centre represents a lady seated in a garden, and a boy with hoop and
dog; the stick of pierced ivory piqué with silver. An Italian example
almost identical with this, with the exception of the painted subject,
appears in the Museo Civico, Venice.
The fan of asses’ skin, from the same collection, is cut to a
perforated pattern, painted in the centre with a subject of birds and
flowers, the outside blades of ivory, the whole piqué with silver.
These _peau d’âne_ fans were used by _élégantes_ at balls, as tablets
upon which the names of partners for the dance were inscribed by means
of a leaden or silver pencil. The colour is a light slaty-grey; their
size averaged from 9 to 10 inches.
The fan which, by the courtesy of Mr. Leopold de Rothschild, we are
enabled to illustrate, is elaborately cut to fine perforations, and
painted with a large medallion in the centre representing a music
lesson, a number of smaller miniatures on the blades, with gilding.
In 1827 the fan was the provocative cause of the conquest of Algeria by
the French. A blow on the head of the French consul from the plumed fan
of Hussein Dey resulted in an apology being demanded and refused, with
the consequent declaration of war.
‘In the course of the year 1828,’ says M. Uzanne, ‘at the time of
representations of a comic opera entitled _Corisandre_, as the heat
was suffocating, the youthful dandies fainting languidly in their
boxes, it occurred to a Paris manufacturer to sell green paper fans
to the men, and the whole theatre was therefore furnished with them.
Fashion adopted this innovation of masculine fans, which received the
name of _Corisandres_, but this originality endured but a short time
in Paris, as also in Venice and the principal cities in Italy, where
men became familiar with the play of the fan;—the beaux abdicated the
sceptre of the woman, and resumed as before their Malacca canes.’
An amusing story is told of a near-sighted French writer, who, on
a sultry summer evening at the Opéra, was much incommoded by the
flip-flapping of the fans of two persons who sat immediately behind
him. Turning to the two delinquents, My dear ladies,’ said he, in
the politest of tones, ‘if you will kindly moderate the use of your
fans you will render me the happiest of men.’ Instead, however, of
the dulcet tones of a lady’s voice, a deep bass smote his ear, and he
found himself confronted with the black-bearded, furious, and reddened
visages of two lieutenants of the Guards. The _amende_ quickly followed.
It was the circumstance of a grand ball given at the Tuileries in 1829
that occasioned the renaissance of the fan. Madame la Duchesse de Berri
was organising a Louis XV. costume quadrille—fans of the period were
required to complete the _tout ensemble_, and none were available.
At length one of the guests recollected an old _parfumeur_ in the
Rue Caumartin, named Vanier, who had collected ancient fans: these
were conveyed to the palace, where, in the quadrille, they created
extraordinary interest—were eagerly purchased, and from this time
onward in the most exclusive circles, in spite of the fickleness of
that jade, Fashion, the fan has retained its hold upon the affections
of the fair.
The earliest result of this revival of taste for old fans was,
perhaps naturally, a general imitation of old models, and lifeless
reproductions of the fans of the Louis Quinze period were made.
[Illustration: Fan of Asses Skin, perforated & painted, silver
paillettes.
Miss Moss.]
[Illustration: Miss Charlotte Yonge’s Fan.
Miss Moss.]
It will readily be perceived that this way did not lead to artistic
salvation—that it served no good purpose to open up the graves of a
dead century and to disturb its poor ghosts. It is true that things
were changing for the worse, but there is a healthiness in the very
act and spirit of change, even though that change should represent a
temporary decline.
This is the epoch of which it will be said that men actually, by some
mysterious means, were deprived of what may for present purposes be
called their sixth sense, when, though their eyelids were unclosed,
they saw not, or only in a perverted manner; it is, nevertheless,
one of the curiosities of this most singular epoch that while the
general level of artistic attainment was so low, its pictured shadows
so dark, the prevailing gloom should be illuminated here and there
by lights more bright and intense than in the two preceding epochs.
In other words, while we fail to trace with any measure of certainty
any single instance, during the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries,
of an artist of the first calibre touching the fan, during the first
half of the century that succeeded, the fan may boast of such names
as Horace Vernet, Ingres, Isabey, and others only a little less
distinguished. These represent the welcome oasis in the dreary desert
of mediocrity—the limpid springs at which from time to time we may
pause for a few moments to refresh ourselves. Of the work of these
famous painters, an ‘Arab dance’ by Horace Vernet is recorded; as also
‘Diana and Endymion,’ the subject treated in the Etruscan style by
Ingres, who constantly in his pictures introduced fans, as witness the
portrait of Madame Devauçay, referred to in an earlier chapter, ‘The
Odalisque,’ and ‘The Harem.’ We have also, later, an ‘Allegory of the
Arts’ by Robert Fleury, a ‘Fête’ by Gérome, and fans by Diaz, Vibert,
Lami, Glaize, and Jacquemart.
‘The revolution of 1848,’ says M. Rondot, in his report on the 1851
Exhibition, ‘would have crushed the French fan industry if it had not
been for the orders for exportation. The production, which in Paris
amounted to the value of three million francs in 1847, was reduced
by half in the disastrous year that followed; of 565 workers of both
sexes 315 were thrown out of employment. At the time of writing’
(1854), continues this author, ‘the industry was in a very flourishing
condition.’ This prosperity has been maintained to the present day,
‘Paris being still the only city where a fan may command the price of a
hundred pounds.’[166]
The number of artists and workers employed in Paris and the Oise, says
M. Duvelleroy in his report on the Paris Exhibition of 1867, is 4000;
the annual value of the production being ten million francs, of which
three-fourths is for the foreign market. ‘Paris et la Chine ont seuls
le monopole du commerce des éventails, mais c’est aujourd’hui, en
Europe, une industrie toute française, pour laquelle le monde entier
est notre tributaire.’[167] The evidence of this exhibition, further
affirms this author, showed that France incontestably held the first
rank.
‘Spain, who for thirty years had tried to organise her industry, has
only arrived at the production of the commoner classes of fans. Italy,
who uses fans greatly, does not make them; Portugal being only the
third in the European market.’ The British record is correspondingly
poor. ‘In the Great Exhibition of 1851,’ says Lady Bristol, ‘there was
not one single fan of British manufacture exhibited,’[168] and so far
as painted fans are concerned, the statement made by Redgrave in his
notes to the Catalogue of the Fan Exhibition at South Kensington in
1870, ‘that there were no English fanmakers living except those who
made cheap and coarse fans, is substantially correct to-day.’[169]
[Illustration: Empire Fan, Ivory brisé, 10” x 5-7/8”.
Mr Leopold de Rothschild. C.V.O.]
[Illustration: Portuguese Fan, painted view, lacquered stick, c.1800.
Mr J.H. Etherington Smith.]
The evidence of the fans themselves bears out these statements. The
instance may be cited of an engraved fan in the Schreiber collection
(No. 69, Mounted Fans) recording Mr. Albert Smith’s ascent of Mont
Blanc in 1851, bearing the imprint of the French firm, ‘Leroux et
Cie., Fan’s Manufactr., 41 rue Notre Dame de Nazereth, Paris.’ This
obviously produced exclusively for the British market.
From Germany comes similar evidence of French pre-eminence; the wedding
fan of the Grand Duchess of Baden, exhibited at Karlsruhe in 1891, is
signed by a French artist, ‘A. Soldé, 1855,’ who produced a number
of fans, and is made by a well-known French maker, Frédéric Meyer of
Paris. This is painted with the subject of a sacrifice at the Altar
of Hymen, and portrait busts of the Grand Duke and Grand Duchess, the
initials F. and L., together with ‘Coblentz, 30 Sept. 1855,’ and is a
typical fan of the mid-nineteenth century.
Of the work of Soldé, a most excellent example, Le Bal d’Amours,
is given, graciously lent by H.R.H. Princess Louise, Duchess of
Argyll. The leaf is signed on both obverse and reverse, ‘A. Soldé,’
and inscribed, ‘Grand Bal donné sous le patronage de Madame.’ The
mother-of-pearl stick finely pierced and carved. This formed part of
the famous collection of Queen Victoria.
In 1859 an event occurred of the most fateful interest for the fan,
M. Alphonse Baude of Sainte-Geneviève (Oise) having invented his
system of cutting and carving the sticks _à jour_ by machinery! Let
us understand clearly what this means to us. Nature, ever bounteous,
provides us gratis, without any patent dues, with an instrument—the
human hand—the most exquisitely delicate and complicated machine known
to us; this instrument is directed by a force—the human mind—still more
subtle, if possible, in the delicacy of its operations. In place of
this, M. Alphonse Baude, in his wisdom, offers us his conglomeration of
wheels, axles, metal bolts, and screws! The intelligent fan-lover will
therefore note this date, and carefully examine any fan sticks made
subsequent to it.
Fans, however, have been made from time to time having reasonable
claims to the possession of artistic qualities. M. Rondot mentions
a fan carved in mother-of-pearl and signed by Camille Roqueplan for
Duvelleroy, that sold for 1000 francs. A Danish sculptor, M. S. G.
Schwartz of Copenhagen, exhibited at Paris in 1867 an ivory fan carved
with reliefs of the Seasons after Thorwaldsen; a most beautiful work.
Another brisé fan, finely pierced and carved, presented by the ladies
of Copenhagen to H.R.H. the Princess of Wales (Queen Alexandra) on
the occasion of her marriage in 1863, gives five circular medallions,
the centre having the initials A. A. surmounted by the crown, the
other four of classical subjects. Underneath, a processional group of
Apollo in his chariot, the Graces and the Muses; above, a border of
Cupids holding wreaths of flowers; the guards richly embossed in gold,
with foliage, flowers, etc., in high relief. The above instances, as
well as others that might be named, are exceptional; there can be no
possibility of doubt that while the leaves of fans, upon occasion, due
to the fact of artists of high calibre having essayed the fan, present
some advance, the work of the stick, during the whole of the nineteenth
century, exhibits a serious falling off from that of the preceding
epochs. This unsatisfactory state of things can only be remedied by a
general advance in public taste, by the creation of a demand for the
higher class fans, and by individual artists of approved skill turning
their attention to this class of work.
During the latter half of the nineteenth century, three prominent
éventaillistes of Paris, MM. Duvelleroy, Alexandre, and Aloys van de
Voorde, have made most strenuous efforts to revive interest in the
higher class of fans, and have exhibited work by such distinguished
painters as Gavarni, Colin, Hamon, Philippe, Rousseau, Karl Müller,
Diaz, Eugène Lami, Glaize, Compte-Calix, Couture, Corot, Wattier,
Soldé, Garnier, Mme de Girardin: and such well-known sculptors as
Jean Feuchère, Klagmann, Jacquemart, Riester, the brothers Fannière,
Eugène Berger, Bastard, Lanoy, Vaillant, and others.
[Illustration: Lace Mount presented by the Earl of Crewe to H.R.H.
Princess Mary on her marriage.
Youghal Co-operative Lace Society.]
[Illustration: An Entomologist painted by J.L. Hamon, stick by G.
Rembert.
The Countess Granville.]
Of the work of Gavarni we have unfortunately no example illustrated;
a fan by him appeared at South Kensington in 1870, exhibited by the
Comtesse de Nadaillac. Of other fans enlivened by his light and
humorous touch, two, says Blondel, have become famous: the first was
commissioned by Duvelleroy for Queen Victoria: the second, estimated
of perhaps greater value, formed part of the Empress Eugénie’s rich
collection. Mirecourt, in his biography of Gavarni, tells the following
anecdote. Upon an occasion of the contents of his fine portfolios being
praised, he cried, ‘_Allons donc!_ in drawing I have never done but one
thing passable; it is a fan for the Empress.’
Gavarni visited this country in 1847, but does not appear to have
recommended himself personally to his hosts. He may be counted
fortunate in the fact of his having, in spite of a certain spirit of
contradiction in his character, impressed the value of his work upon
his fellows during his lifetime. Great men, like angels, but too often
come upon us unawares, and it is only upon their leave-taking, or
after, that we become sensible of the loss of a gracious presence.
The delicate and refined art of Jean Louis Hamon was especially suited
to the fan. For a considerable period he was associated with the Royal
Porcelain works at Sèvres, producing a number of designs of that light
fanciful character with which we are familiar in his paintings. He
continued this style of composition, says M. Walther Fol, but applied
it to the decoration of fans, in which he excelled. ‘In every sovereign
court they were a coveted possession, and if he had desired to supply
all demands he could have produced nothing besides.’ The subjects of
these delicate fancies in almost every instance have reference to love
or marriage. There were Loves who shot arrows transfixing two hearts at
once; there was Love with outspread wings, seated upon the raised end
of a see-saw, while Hymen, crowned with flowers, held him on high by
his weight.
A dress fan made by Alexandre, and painted by Hamon with the subject
of ‘An Entomologist,’ and groups of flowers on either side by a
well-known flower painter, was presented to the Countess Granville by
the foreign commissioners of the Universal Exhibition, Paris, October
26, 1867. The stick is of ivory, carved by C. Rambert with dancing
Cupids and foliage, enriched with ormolu and jewelled turquoise. The
gift was accompanied by a graceful letter from Mr. (afterwards Sir
Henry) Cole, the British Commissioner, referring to the fan as a work
of fine art by ‘two distinguished French painters and one sculptor.’ It
is, however, more valuable as a souvenir of an interesting occasion,
and for the beautiful carving of the stick, than as a representative
example of Hamon’s work.
In 1862, J. L. Hamon journeyed to Rome, where he painted ‘L’Aurore,’
exhibited in Paris in the following year, and purchased by the Empress
Eugénie. He died in 1874 at the early age of fifty-three.
Wattier signed a number of fans, of which an exceedingly rich example,
an elaborate composition of nymphs and Cupids, is in the possession of
the Countess Granville. He was born at Lille in 1800, and died in 1868.
The fan leaf, ‘Le Cerf de St. Hubert,’ by Rosa Bonheur (born 1822,
died 1897), is dated 1896, and is consequently one of the latest
works of this illustrious painter, whose fame has become universal.
The legend of St. Hubert and his Christ vision, an unusual subject
with modern artists, though greatly favoured by the painters of the
Renaissance, engaged the attention of Rosa Bonheur as early as 1868,
when she produced a crayon study, similar in treatment to this fan
leaf, with the stag shown a little more in perspective, illustrated
in _Rosa Bonheur, sa Vie, son Œuvre_, Anna Klumpke, 1908. The stag
of the fan leaf, reversed however, presents many similarities to
the famous picture ‘Le Roi de la Forêt,’ painted in 1878, the same
studies probably being utilised for both works. The leaf is of silk,
the painting in transparent pigment, with very little body colour
introduced. It appeared at the Franco-British Exhibition in 1908, and
is in the possession of M. Georges Caïn, Musée Carnavalet, Paris, by
whose courtesy we are enabled to give the illustration. Another fan,
‘Trois Vachers,’ is referred to in the above-mentioned biography.
[Illustration: Le Cerf de St Hubert, by Rosa Bonheur.
M. Georges Caïn]
Claudius Popelin is an artist of the Napoleon III. epoch, who, in
addition to his work in enamel, produced a number of fans, examples
of which appear in the Musée des Arts Décoratifs, Paris. These are
mostly flowers and objects of natural history, drawn with considerable
skill. He was much befriended by the late Princess Mathilde (cousin
of Napoleon III.) who presented a fan of her own work to the Empress
Eugénie. In the same collection appear two fans by Ch. Chaplin, whose
graceful work in painting is well known here as on the Continent.
In the art library, Victoria and Albert Museum, is a small collection
of designs for fans, acquired from the Paris Exhibition of 1867,
and typical of the work done during the middle of the century; the
fans from these designs being made, in each instance, by Alexandre.
Amongst these is a silk leaf representing the four ages of Infancy,
Youth, Manhood, and Old Age, forming one group in a large cartouche,
occupying three-fourths of the entire space, extremely ably painted,
somewhat recalling the style of the French painter Flandrin; the colour
scheme being a monotone of mauve with gold embellishments, the panel
on a green ground with lightly designed ornaments, signed F. Fossey,
MDCCCLXIII. A group of Watteau figures dancing, cleverly touched on
a light buff silk mount, and a shepherd piping, with shepherdess and
Cupid, a circle of Cupids hovering round a tree, also in the Watteau
style, are examples of the lighter and daintier style of mount affected
by the French artists of this epoch; the last named signed by Madame
Callamatta.
Madame Bisschop, who also has a dainty touch, executed a number of
fans during the sixties and seventies, including the silver-wedding
fan of Mr. and Lady Charlotte Schreiber. This skin mount, now in the
Schreiber collection, British Museum, though it can scarcely lay claim
to the highest qualities, is, nevertheless, charming in idea and
pretty in colour; it represents a sylvan scene on the borders of a lake
upon which are two white swans, a delicate allusion to the bride and
bridegroom. In the centre, underneath a tree, is a Cupid turning over
the pages of a large book, inscribed ‘April 10, 1880, XXV.’ The subject
is enclosed within a cartouche of gold and flowers.
Once again, the Royal Fan, in its hour of need, finds a friend in
royalty, on this occasion the most powerful monarch in Europe, Queen
Victoria. In 1870, the period of perhaps the lowest ebb of the fan’s
fortunes in this country, at the initiative of this royal lady, an
exhibition was organised at the South Kensington Museum (now Victoria
and Albert), when a prize of £400 was offered by Her Majesty, and four
hundred and thirteen examples from the finest collections both here and
abroad were shown.
The great success of this exhibition, and the absorbing interest
displayed in it, naturally led to the organisation of others. Among
the measures adopted by the Worshipful Company of Fanmakers for the
purpose of reviving what was at one time ‘a flourishing industry in
this ancient city,’ a competitive exhibition of fans was held at
Drapers’ Hall in 1878, again under the protecting ægis of royalty
(H.R.H. Princess Louise, now Duchess of Argyll). Twelve hundred and
eighty-four fans, ancient and modern, were exhibited; gold, silver, and
bronze medals, and money prizes amounting in the aggregate to £172 were
awarded, the freedom of the Company being in most instances granted to
the prize-winners.
Eleven years later (1889) this experiment was repeated. In addition
to prizes offered by the Fanmakers’ Company, others were offered by
private individuals and public newspapers, and one hundred and six
works were entered for competition.
[Illustration: Fan mount by Claudius Popelin.
Musée des Arts Décoratifs, Paris.]
The _Queen_ newspaper, the donor of one of the prizes, commenting
on the exhibition, held at Drapers’ Hall during the month of May,
said: ‘Considered as a whole, the exhibition did not come up to our
expectations. The liberal prizes offered ought to have brought forward
finer and more original work in a branch of minor art which is to be
considered as the special province of lady artists,[170] and presents
so many opportunities for fanciful composition and refined taste in
arranging and grouping,’ etc.
In the following year, 1890, the Fanmakers’ Company decided to hold
their third competitive exhibition.
The _Daily Graphic_ of May 17 said: ‘The exhibition of fans organised
last year by the Company of Fanmakers gave so valuable an impetus to
English trade in this direction, that the Company very wisely and
patriotically decided to hold another this season.’
On this occasion no less a sum than £275 was placed at the disposal of
the Company, to be distributed as prizes for fans and fan designs, _the
exclusive work of British subjects_, the number of exhibits reaching
the very respectable total of six hundred.
In 1891 an important exhibition of ancient and modern fans was held
at Karlsruhe, under the patronage of the Grand Duke and Grand Duchess
of Baden, a sumptuous illustrated record of the exhibition being
issued, the text written by Professor Marc Rosenberg. Sixteen prizes
and forty-three diplomas of honour were offered for competition, in
which some of the foremost continental artists took part. Of these the
distinguished Austrian painter Hans Makart claims a leading place, and
may be included in the already long list of artists of the foremost
rank who have given their attention to fan painting. A design in
crayons and water-colour by him appeared at this exhibition, and is
now in the Royal Gallery at Berlin; a charming vision of a procession
of children crowding the whole field of the fan, suggesting the
impossibility of having too many. Professor Eugen
Klimsch of Frankfurt, the winner of one of the prizes, was represented
by ‘The Dance,’ a composition of figures in the style of Watteau, a
number of Cupids occupying the centre of the fan, which was priced
at the high figure of £500. Professor Hermann Götz, director of the
School of Arts and Crafts at Karlsruhe, showed an excellent classical
composition on paper, of the chariot of an orb or planet. Professor
Ferdinand Keller, of Karlsruhe, exhibited an apotheosis of the Emperor
William I., an excellent fan mount of a pretty Cupid on a cloud, with
a medallion portrait of the Empress and a large eagle. This in the
possession of Mr. J. G. Rosenberg, who also owns an extremely able
composition of a dance of bacchantes by Georg Papperitz.
There was also a powerful painting of the _plein air_ school, of a pier
with fishing-boats, ‘Bewegte See, Schwanenhaut,’ by Professor Gustav
Schönleber; and an excellent naturalistic painting on silk of parrots,
paroquets, etc., by Max Seliger of Berlin.
The above by no means exhausts the good things of this important
exhibition, in which was represented practically every phase of modern
art, and amply demonstrated the fact that the Germans, artists and
public alike, are much more alive to the importance of the fan, both as
affording an opportunity for artistic expression, and as an accessory
of costume, than we are in this country.
Upon occasion, the fan has led to unforeseen and undesired
consequences; a story is told of the eccentric King Ludwig of Bavaria,
the gallant and prodigal admirer of the dancer Lola Montés. At one
of the balls of his Court, a fair princess having inadvertently let
her fan fall to the ground, the monarch hastened to pick it up and to
restore it to the hands of the giddy beauty, when his forehead came in
sharp contact with that of another gentleman, no less desirous than
the king of paying homage to the fair. The shock was so great and so
violent that King Ludwig, stunned for the moment, soon afterwards
discovered growing on his forehead that enormous wen, so well known,
and as celebrated as it was unlucky.[171]
[Illustration: Autograph Fan.
Sir Lawrence Alma-Tadema. O.M., R.A.]
[Illustration: Autograph Fan Japanese.
Mr Frank Brangwyn A.R.A.]
Autograph and inscription fans, which have, during the last two or
three decades become popular with the few fortunate ladies who are
happy in the possession of a circle of artistic friends, are but a
revival of an old-world fashion. We have referred, early in this work,
to the custom of poetic inscription which prevailed in China during
the Liang dynasty, and to the love-sick lady Pan, of the Han dynasty,
who adopted this by way of giving expression to her unrequited love.
M. Achille Poussielgue, _Voyage en Chine de M. et Mme Bourboulon_,
says: ‘There are fans of two kinds, open and folding. The former are
made of a sheet of ivory or paper, and are used as autograph albums;
and it is upon the surface of these white fans that a Chinaman begs his
friend to leave a sentence, a drawing, or some characters, by way of
recalling the absent to his memory. These album fans, to which great or
noted men affix their seals, become of great value.’ ‘In the romance,
_Ping-chan-ling yen_, a eunuch attached to the Emperor’s household,
Lieou by name, begs Chân-Tai, the noble daughter of Chân-hien-jin,
to honour him by writing on a fan with her own fair hand. “My sole
desire,” he says, “is to possess a fan ornamented with your verses.”’
Some of these autograph fans from the Negroni collection were sold in
London about 1866, after the Chinese war, and are said to have reached
the extraordinary figure of £900 apiece.
In Japan, also, a charming device for the entertainment of the guests
at artistic social gatherings consisted in each member of the company
making little sketches expressive of some dainty fancy, or historic
incident, on fans. These were passed round, exchanged, and carried away
as souvenirs of a friendly and interesting occasion.
It was a happy inspiration of the late Lady Alma Tadema to revive
the autograph fan in the form of sign manuals of famous artists and
musicians.
The fan consists of twenty-six blades of plain wood on which appear the
signatures of such famous painters as Bastien-Lepage, Joseph Israels,
Du Maurier, Legros, accompanied in most instances by characteristic
sketches; and of such musical executants as Charles Hallé, with, in
several instances, the addition of a few bars of music. The sketches
are dated 1879.
The fan of Mrs. Arthur Lewis is a development of the same idea. This
has nineteen blades, and the space between the rounded edge and the
connecting ribbon is utilised for sketches by Orchardson, Colin Hunter,
Pettie, Millais, Leslie, Alma Tadema, Du Maurier, Phil Morris, Ansdell,
J. C. Hook, Frank Dicksee, Goodall, Herkomer, Fildes, Marks, Boughton,
and Adrian Stokes. The outer blades are ornamented by arabesques
enclosing the monogram of the owner, a laurel wreath, and painter’s
palettes. The dates recorded are 1880-84.
The popularity on the Continent of this form of autograph fan is
evidenced by the fact that three examples were shown at Karlsruhe
in 1891 from the collection of Herr Conrad Dreher of Munich. These
included the work of such well-known German artists as Ernst
Zimmermann, Franz Stuck, Lenbach, Holmberg, Löwith, Diez, Hermann
Kaulbach, and others.
At Karlsruhe, also, was shown an autograph fan belonging to the
Baroness Friederichsy, on which were the signatures of all the
diplomatists who attended the Berlin Congress. Countess Onola possesses
a similar fan, with the autographs of the royal family and the more
distinguished personages of the Berlin Court, including Prince Bismarck
and Count Moltke.
Mrs. Joachim-Gibson has a ‘Wagner’ fan, with printed portrait of the
master, views of the Wagner theatre and of Bayreuth, and, on the
reverse, autographs of famous Wagner singers.
[Illustration: Lace Fan, presented to H.M. Queen Alexandra for use on
Coronation day, 1902, by the Worshipful Company of Fan Makers.
Her Majesty the Queen.]
Among novelties or curiosities in fans is an example shown at the
Vienna Exhibition in 1873, in which each rib was a knife or a fork, or
a spoon, or a comb, or a pair of scissors, etc. Any single piece could
be removed for use without spoiling the _tout ensemble_.
In the exhibition of the Fanmakers’ Company at Drapers’ Hall in 1890,
a ‘butterfly fan’ appeared. Two large gauze wings, speckled and veined
to imitate a gigantic insect, form the fan, the body represented by the
handle; upon pressing a button or spring, the wings are set in motion,
and, by their fluttering, fan the bearer.
Mrs. Kendal, the famous actress, is also credited with a little
surprise, in the shape of a ‘dressing-case fan.’ This is a fan and
entire toilet-case in one, and affords its owner an opportunity
of beautifying herself on occasions when the ordinary means are
unattainable. The sticks are of silver, the leaf of black gauze, with
a black velvet mask, resembling those the Venetians carry at Carnival
time, set in the centre. Behind this mask, which permits the owner to
see everything, may be carried on all the toilet duties for which the
fan contains conveniences. Upon turning back one of the broad outer
sticks, a little mirror is revealed, and underneath the other is a
receptacle for hair-pins, scissors, glove-hook, etc. At the lower end
of the fan is a silver box containing a small powder-puff. This was
advertised some ten or fifteen years ago as manufactured by Messrs. W.
Thornhill and Co.
The employment of the ostrich feather for the folding-fan has been
revived during recent years, following an older custom. Many examples
occurring in old engravings and pictures may be cited; amongst them
the portrait group of the family of Jan Miense Molenaer, by Van Loon,
previously referred to, in which a lady holds a folding-fan of white
ostrich feathers. (See illustration, p. 196.)
In the sixteenth century, and for a long subsequent period, Venice
continued to be the principal emporium for supplying ostrich feathers
to Europe, and in no country were they more extensively used than in
England. At present England is the mart of the world for feathers;
foreign manufacturers, therefore, must perforce come here to make their
selections.
It is this latter circumstance, doubtless, together with the
universal popularity of the feather itself, which has occasioned
their revival—some of the handsomest fans made at present being of
that character. The æsthetic value of these fans, for the most part
depends, no doubt, from considerations of cost, upon the beauty of the
ostrich feather itself, the sticks being generally of plain ivory,
tortoise-shell, horn, or bone—thus justifying the criticism passed upon
one of the prize-winners at a competitive exhibition at Drapers’ Hall,
that it was to the _ostrich_ that the prize ought really to go. Under
no circumstances, however, could these folding-fans hope to vie with
the magnificent rigid fans of the Elizabethan era, the form of these
handles, apparently, offering better opportunities to the designer than
do the radiating sticks of the folding-fan. If we might have feathers
set in handles designed in the sumptuous manner of these early fans,
well and good; if we could have the sticks of the _folding-fans_ more
in keeping with the sumptuous nature of the feather, well also, though
not quite so good; but the ever-present question of cost must always
remain a determining factor.
The feathers of other birds have also been, and are at present,
employed for the purposes of the fan; in this connection the charming
Chinese fan at South Kensington of the feathers of the Argus pheasant
may be cited. (Illustrated facing p. 59.)
[Illustration: Woodcock Feather Fan composed of 6250 feathers supplied
by H.R.H. the Prince of Wales.
H.R.H. the Princess of Wales.]
The system of applied feather-work is referred to on a number of
occasions in this work, several illustrations being given, notably the
Chinese feather screens belonging to Mr. Crewdson, and the Queen Anne
screen of Mr. Messel. The practice was common during the latter half of
the eighteenth century, used both for fans and other purposes, and it
was a favourite pastime with Mrs. Montague, who refers to it in one of
her letters, dated 1785:—‘I am obliged to you for your kind attention
to my feather-work. The neck and breast feathers of the stubble
goose are very useful, and I wish your cook would save those of the
Michaelmas goose for us. Things homely and vulgar are sometimes more
useful than the elegant, and the feathers of the goose may be better
adapted to some occasions than the plumes of the Phœnix.’
Thus Cowper, _On Mrs. Montagu’s Feather Hangings_:
‘The Birds put off their ev’ry hue,
To dress a room for Montagu.’
Fashion has again, during recent years, adopted this system of feather
decoration for fans.
‘The latest craze of Viennese society,’ says the _New York Commercial_,
November 23, 1890, ‘is a passion for fans of mountain-cock feathers.
The last question the young Austrian belle asks her admirer before he
goes on a hunt is, “Won’t you try, please, to bag me a fine fan?” An
ideal fan of this kind must contain only feathers from birds brought
down by the most expert shots, and every feather must be the lone
representative of the giver’s skill; consequently, such a fan may
record the admiration and skill of sixty or seventy hunters. It is
not unusual to have cut in the ribs of the fans a brief account of
the circumstances under which the birds were shot. The German Empress
is said to have expressed a wish last summer for such a fan, and ever
since that time the young bloods of the Austrian Court, who have
already bagged fans for their own women, have been shooting right and
left for the Empress’s sake. The handle of the fan, now being completed
in Vienna, will be set with jewels in the Prussian colours.’
A more unique example of the spoils of sport is the fan which, by
the graciousness of H.R.H. the Princess of Wales, we are enabled to
illustrate here. In this, the blades are of red tortoise-shell, twenty
in number. The feather portion is composed of a series of tiny feathers
from the wing of the woodcock. These, 6520 in number, were supplied
by H.R.H. the Prince of Wales from the wings of 3260 woodcocks, there
being one only of these miniature feathers in each wing of the bird.
Each single feather is fixed with two stitches of thread and worked
upon a linen base, the back being formed of the ordinary feathers from
the breast and wings.
The fan was commenced on the 18th August 1900, and only completed on
the 28th October 1901. The lady who worked it was unable to apply
herself for more than an hour or so at a time, the work being so
excessively fine and tedious.
The manufacture of the fan was entrusted to Mr. Alfred Clark, of 33 New
Bond Street,[172] the work being carried out under his direction, and,
we believe, on a principle of his own.
M. Édouard Moreau signed a number of fans from 1860 onwards,
characterised by a charming delicacy of execution and elaboration
of detail. A representative example is given, which appeared in the
International Exhibition of 1862, and was purchased for the South
Kensington Museum. This, an ivory brisé, is painted with three
medallions of ‘The Tournament,’ ‘Before the Tournament,’ and ‘After the
Tournament.’ The fan was made by Alexandre, and bears very favourable
comparison with the best work of the eighteenth century. (Facing p. 87.)
A fan, also manufactured by Alexandre and painted by Moreau, was
exhibited in 1870 by Madame Maurice Richard (au Ministère des
Beaux-Arts, Paris). The vellum mount has for centre a medallion, with
the initials ‘H. R.’ (Hélène Richard) surmounted by two doves. On
either side are medallions with figures emblematic of Sculpture and
Music, Poetry and Painting, painted _en camaïeu_ on a gold ground by
Moreau. On the reverse, in a medallion, the Genius of the Arts awarding
wreaths to Sculpture, Architecture, Painting, Music, and Poetry. The
ivory stick, carved and pierced in the style of the sixteenth
century, is also painted by Moreau, with medallions of seraphs playing
musical instruments, and supporting emblems of the arts they represent;
the guards bearing the initials ‘H. R.’ in gold.
[Illustration: The Meet. by Charles Detaille.
M. J. Duvelleroy.]
Many fans bearing Moreau’s signature have mounts of lace, the ivory
stick being minutely painted with medallions of figure subjects near
the handle end, usually three subjects enclosed in an ornamental
setting. An excellent example is given from the collection at the
Victoria and Albert Museum. M. Duvelleroy (of Regent Street) also has
a fan arranged on similar lines; another, in the possession of Mr. G.
J. Rosenberg, was exhibited at Karlsruhe in 1891, both the last named
being made by Alexandre.
This leads us to the important subject of lace mounts. The use of this
delicate material for the fan, especially suited by its lightness and
daintiness, has been revived during recent years.
A lace fan having in the centre the word ‘Elena,’ surmounted by a royal
crown, was made at Burano and presented to Queen Elena of Italy on her
marriage in 1896. In Devonshire, also, lace mounts have been made; in
the Paris Exhibition of 1900 appeared a fan with a coat of arms in the
centre, in which Miss Trevelyan adapted an Italian design to the old
Honiton stitches, illustrated by Mrs. Bury Palliser in her work on Lace.
Fans have been, and are, a feature of the Youghal lace industry,
established by the sisterhood of the Presentation Convent, county Cork,
the oldest of the many that have sprung up under the fostering care
of the Irish nuns, and dating back to the dark times of 1847, when
famine decimated the rural population of the south and west of Ireland.
The designs are in each instance furnished by the sisters, who are
qualified under the Board of Education.
The Irish flat needle-point of Youghal, though doubtless derived in
the first instance from foreign sources, may be said to have developed
into a purely native art, capable of well holding its own against any
contemporary foreign work.
Fan leaves have been worked for many highly placed personages; the
example illustrated was presented by the Earl of Crewe to H.R.H.
the Princess Mary on her marriage, and is, perhaps, one of the most
successful in point of design and richness of effect. A wedding gift
to H.R.H. the Princess Maud of Wales has for centre the initial M.
surmounted by a crown.
A beautiful example, of the finest workmanship, was presented to H.M.
Queen Alexandra on the occasion of her first visit to Ireland after
the Coronation, in 1903, and has for centre the Irish harp, with the
appropriate inscription in Celtic half uncials, on a ribbon running
over the whole field of the fan:
‘I cool, I refresh, and I can keep secrets.’
Another fan was presented to H.R.H. the Princess Margaret of Connaught
as a wedding gift, and obtained a prize at an exhibition in Dublin
in 1897. The number of medals awarded by the various international
and other exhibitions testify to the universal appreciation of this
delicate industry, which has for some years past, with the full
consent of the nuns, been formed into a co-operative society, thus
enabling the workers to participate fully in the profits accruing
to the association. The thread is a linen one of various degrees of
fineness, from the strong No. 1 to the almost invisible No. 400, and
though so delicately wrought, it wears better than most other laces,
and can be cleaned repeatedly without suffering injury in texture or
appearance.[173]
[Illustration: Lace Fan, by Alexandre, stick ivory, carved by Brisevin,
& painted by Moreau. Victoria & Albert Museum.]
[Illustration: Lace Fan, worked by Mdme Minne Dausaert, stick ivory,
finely carved with cupids &c.
M. J. Duvelleroy.]
We are enabled, by the gracious permission of Her Majesty, to
illustrate the lace fan presented by the Worshipful Company of
Fan-makers to Queen Alexandra for use on Coronation Day, 1902.
This bears two crossed A’s surmounted by the royal crown. On the
panaches the royal monogram again appears surmounted by the crown.
Lace may be said to be the one single industry remaining comparatively
uninfluenced by the modern art movement, which is professedly a return
to the independent study of natural forms. We say _comparatively_
uninfluenced, since most praiseworthy, and, indeed, successful
attempts have been made both in this country and abroad to profit by
the abundant ornamental suggestion which Nature everywhere offers us.
The beautiful lace fan contributed by M. Duvelleroy suggests almost
infinite possibilities in the treatment of this charming material;
it is designed on a convention essentially modern; it is the art of
to-day, of the present moment, owing practically nothing to the past,
and representing that revolt against tradition, which, for good or for
ill, has come to be one of the most significant features of modern art.
Nor is this the only instance that might be cited. Excellent designs
for lace mounts, based upon natural forms, have from time to time been
made in our schools; in this connection may be mentioned the work of
Miss Lydia Hammett, of the Taunton School of Art, who has produced
charming fan mounts in Brussels and other lace in which bird and plant
life are happily treated, and with a proper and due sense of the
limitations imposed by the material.
Miss L. Oldroyd, also, has worked a number of charming lace mounts,
including one for a fan presented to Queen Victoria by the Worshipful
Company of Fanmakers on the occasion of the diamond jubilee.
On the Continent, among some of the most admirably reticent work,
a treatment more frankly unusual has been adopted, not without
successful results. In the article on ‘Der Moderne Fächer,’ in
the _Kunstgewerbe-blatt_ for September 1904, Frau M. Erler gives
several admirable examples from Vienna and elsewhere, together with
illustrations of her own work, consisting of a happy arrangement
of appliqué embroidery and network or gauze insertion, extremely
effective, and losing none of its value from the fact of its having
been obtained by simple means. We have festoons of flowers embroidered
on a light ground of gauze, with ornamental spaces of network
insertion; we have the mountain-ash arranged symmetrically, the leaves
painted red with embroidered outline; the ‘honesty’ treated as a broad
border, the outline embroidered; the rose treated as an all-over
pattern, the groundwork in artfully alternated lace and net.
At the time of writing, the news of Charles Conder’s death reaches us.
He was a man of singular gifts, a modern of the moderns, whose work,
though doubtless derived from that of a past age, would have been
impossible at any other epoch than our own. What Conder undoubtedly
possessed, and in a very high degree, was that subtle quality which
for lack of a better word we call _style_, a quality not easy of
definition, but readily _felt_. It would be difficult to say what style
_is_, it is far easier to say what it is _not_; it is not for example,
_design_; a man may possess considerable power of design without much
perception of style; it is not a sense of proportion, although this
comes nearer the mark; it is not originality either, since a man may be
very original indeed, and only prove himself ridiculous; it is rather,
a happy blending of these several elements, and some others also.
To this great gift of nature, since this quality in its highest form
cannot be acquired, Conder added practically nothing. It is with a
feeling akin to resentment that we find faculties so exceedingly rare
and so precious, allied to such a lamentable lack of training and art
education. It is indeed possible that, if his life had been prolonged,
these shortcomings would have been supplied, as Burne-Jones taught
himself the human figure after he became famous; but, after all,
criticism is perhaps somewhat ungracious where there is so much that
is admirable, and the utility of speculations as to the ‘might have
beens’ is extremely questionable.
[Illustration: The Red Fan. Conversations Galantes, painted on silk by
Charles Conder.
Mr. John Lane.]
The number of Conder fans existing in various collections must be
considerable. Mr. Lane has a dozen, or possibly more, of which perhaps
the finest is reproduced here. Silk is the material employed, to which
his method is especially suited. They appear to have been mounted
only in very rare instances, and are generally framed for purposes
of decoration. There is no reason why they should not be used—in
fact, there is every reason why they should, since suitability to a
prescribed purpose is one of the very first canons of good art. Mrs.
Lane has a blue fan, mounted, and in use.
The work of Frank Conder is obviously founded on that of Charles, with
which it presents many features in common. Among the several fans by
this artist illustrated in the winter number of the _Studio_, that
representing two young girls holding masks, with Cupids, and in the
background a river and bridge, is perhaps the most individual.
The many admirers of Mr. Brangwyn’s work, and they are legion, will
doubtless welcome the two characteristic examples given of fans by
his hand. In both instances, the colour scheme is a play upon blue,
somewhat similar to, and at the same time, necessarily, vastly
different from, the red fan of Mr. Conder. The motto of Danton the
Republican—‘de l’audace, et encore de l’audace, et toujours de
l’audace,’ ‘to dare, and again to dare, and always and evermore to
dare,’ would seem to be peculiarly fitting to the work of Mr. Brangwyn.
In the hands of a less gifted artist this would probably mean disaster;
in the instance of the original of the coloured illustration, a bold
gouache on silk, the result is one of almost overpowering brilliance.
The half-tone illustration represents a sketch on grey paper, and must
be considered merely as the first idea of a fan, to be materially
modified in the working out.
Mr. Brangwyn has, among his multifarious activities, found time to
produce quite a number of fans and designs for fans, which have found
their way into various hands. In the _Studio_ winter number for 1901-2
appeared a coloured illustration—a rich composition of young girls
gathering roses—also painted on silk. In the article on ‘Der Moderne
Fächer,’ in _Kunstgewerbe-blatt_ for September 1904, by Frau Margaret
Erler of Berlin, previously alluded to, appeared the first sketch for
this _Studio_ fan, vigorously drawn in chalk.
It is impossible at the present stage of a career having in the
natural order of things so much before it, and in the face of such
superabundant energy, to form any definite idea of the ultimate
outcome of Mr. Brangwyn’s art; of his present accomplishment, his
etched work, which ranks amongst the most remarkable produced during
recent periods, seems likely, in the opinion of the present writer, to
earn for him the most enduring fame. If we might conceive etched or
engraved fans becoming again popular in the twentieth, as they were
in the eighteenth century, it might be an interesting speculation as
to how Mr. Brangwyn would treat an etched fan. The material of zinc,
which he so much affects, and in which he has discovered such great
possibilities, would, doubtless, be unsuitable for such a delicate
object; nevertheless, we can imagine some rapid and characteristic
note on copper, the print further enlivened here and there by a touch
of colour, as a suitable thing to be fluttered in the hand of the
fair. Such work would provide, in these days of lack of patronage,
other artists also with a means of augmenting their too often, it is
to be feared, but slender incomes, since there would be an additional
incentive to purchase a print that might be applied to a definite
purpose, or made the occasion of some graceful offering.
Mr. H. Granville Fell, whose Court of Love, a composition in the
shape of a reversed heart, with Cupid enthroned in the centre, was
illustrated in the _Studio_ winter number above referred to, is another
instance of an English present-day artist who has essayed fan painting
or designing.
[Illustration: The Blue Fan, silk, by Frank Brangwyn, A.R.A.
by permission of the Artist.]
Miss Jessie King, whose charmingly original style is admirably suited
to the fan, was also represented in the same publication. The beautiful
fan graciously lent for reproduction by H.R.H. Princess Henry of
Battenberg, the wedding gift of Queen Victoria, is entirely of English
workmanship, designed and painted by a lady student of the Training
School at South Kensington.
‘What style of ornament is most suitable for the fan?’ asks Charles
Blanc, who draws attention to the fact of the pleats breaking up or
distorting the design or picture. Our author suggests as a possible
way out of this difficulty ‘that each pleat or fold should have a
separate subject, or, at least, that the subject be so arranged that
the pleats have relation to each other, as, a Watteau harlequin kissing
his hand to a columbine, a Leander quarrelling with Isabelle, these
being placed on blades that in refolding would reunite the lovers and
reconcile the disputants. But to develop a graceful subject on a series
of projecting and retreating angles, all more or less acute, would be
a waste of labour. Is it not better to use in these cases a different
or a radiating ornament? Is it not better to scatter over a fan a
charmingly discordant arrangement of pictures and colours, or even to
place isolated subjects between the folds, in order that elegant women,
in manipulating their fans, may have twenty opportunities of showing
in each fancy group the artist’s talent, and at the same time, of
displaying some special charm of their own—a pretty hand, a well-turned
arm, or beautiful eyes?’[174]
Our author has drawn attention, in his light and charming way, to a
difficulty which is practically insuperable; there is nothing new in
this suggestion of decorating each pleat with a separate subject, or
of a consecutive series of subjects. Many instances of its application
might be cited; some are given in this work, notably the Italian fan of
mica, in which subdivision is carried to its utmost limit. But we must
not take our author _too_ seriously, and although his suggested fan,
if carried out, would be a most exquisite experience, especially if
drawn with the power of a Gavarni, or designed with the skill of a
Sambourne or a Caran d’Ache, the opportunity afforded to the painter by
the full space of the mount far outweighs any slight disturbance of the
design caused by the pleating; moreover, is it not a fact that silk,
the material most favoured by modern artists, which, when prepared with
rice size and stretched, offers as suitable a material as could be
desired for the free play of the brush, opens out to practically a flat
surface?
George Augustus Sala has referred to the fan painted by Sir Matthew
Digby Wyatt with the subject of the ‘Triumph of Love,’ as marking
the period of the English revival of fan painting, and as a striking
exemplification of the folly of assuming that a great artist derogates
from the dignity of his calling by painting fans. He may stoop, indeed,
says this author felicitously, but it will be to conquer!
Our task is at length completed; we have endeavoured to trace to its
source in the dimmest past the chequered history of this little toy,
once the pride and the glory of kings, and now the plaything of queens.
We trust we have shown that, in the words of Sir George Birdwood, there
is perhaps more in a fan than was dreamt of in Johnson’s matter-of-fact
definition:—‘An instrument used by ladies to move the air and cool
themselves.’
What, then, of the future? May we reasonably look forward in this
twentieth century for a renaissance of the fan; for a re-attainment, if
not of its past spiritual significance, at least of something of its
artistic possibilities?
[Illustration: Sketch Design for Fan,
by Frank Brangwyn, A.R.A.]
[Illustration: A Garland of Children,
by G. Woolliscroft Rhead.]
The future is full of hope; we have turned our backs upon the bad
old nineteenth century, with its manifold outrages upon the æsthetic
sense; the foundations, at any rate, of a living art have begun to be
laid—were begun, as a matter of fact, by this same nineteenth century,
following that strange natural order of the outcome of good from evil
and the apparent inseparability of both; a new Phœnix has arisen out
of the ashes of the old; a new era has come, showing everywhere signs
of a revived artistic life, with plenty of capable heads to invent
and willing hands to carry out. Mesdames, it is with your charming
selves that the issue rests. You have but to utter the word and your
sceptre shall again become a wonder of wreathed beauty and woven grace,
rivalling in its blossoming the golden-flowered sceptres of eld![175]
[Illustration: FROM A CHINESE LACQUERED SCREEN. (Victoria and Albert
Museum.)]
FOOTNOTES:
[1] Gay, _The Fan_.
[2] _Adventures of Harry Richmond_ (the italics are ours).
[3] _Tatler_, No. 52, Aug. 9, 1709.
[4] Goldoni in his _Mémoires_ gives an account of ‘The Fan.’ It was
written and first brought out in Paris, and soon became universally
popular, especially in Venice.—Helen Zimmern, _Masterpieces of Foreign
Authors_.
[5] M. A. Flory, _A Book about Fans_.
[6] Letter of Mrs. Scott, 1761, to her sister-in-law, Mrs.
Robinson.—Dr. Doran, _A Lady of the Last Century_ (Mrs. Elizabeth
Montagu).
[7] In an engraving of an English Noblewoman by Gaspar Rutz, 1581, a
long-handled feather-fan appears.
[8] The fan here referred to was chiefly used inside the Courts as
punkah, to create a little circulation of the air, and to dissipate the
horrible odours for which these places were notorious.
[9] This assertion that the handles of fans were occasionally employed
in the castigation of refractory children is borne out by the droll
story of Sir Thomas More punishing his daughters with a fan of
peacock’s feathers for the offence of running him into debt with the
milliner.
[10] Layard, _Nineveh_.
[11] Wilkinson, _Manners and Customs of the Ancient Egyptians_.
[12] Thus Agamemnon in _Troilus and Cressida_, Act I. Scene iii.:
‘in the wind and tempest of her frown,
Distinction, with a broad and powerful fan,
Puffing at all, winnows the light away;
And what hath mass, or matter, by itself
Lies, rich in virtue, and unmingled.’
[13] In a painting which represents a sacrifice to Isis, Ant. di
Ercolano, ii. 60, a priest is seen fanning the fire upon the altar
with a triangular flabellum, such as is still used in Italy. (Smith’s
_Dictionary of Greek and Roman Antiquities_.)
[14] Sir George Birdwood, Society of Arts, 1903.
[15] George Rawlinson, _Five Great Monarchies of the Ancient World_.
[16] Rawlinson.
[17] 2 Kings i. 2, 3, 6, 16.
[18] Pausanias, Frazer, vol. iii, 558.
[19] ‘The fly-whisk in the picture is introduced because flies were
held to be creatures of Beel-zebub, the god of flies, and therefore to
be driven away.’ (Letter of Mr. W. Holman Hunt to the author.)
[20] _National Encyclopædia._
[21] Layard, _Nineveh_.
[22] Chambers’s _Dictionary of Arts and Sciences_.
[23] See page 109.
[24] Dennis, _Cities and Cemeteries of Etruria_.
[25] _Revue de l’Art Chrétien_, 1883
[26] In a wall-painting of a sacrifice, Rome (Vatican), given by George
Buss, _Der Fächer_, a circular fan-tablet is seen.
[27] This also is the number lining the shed in which the King of
Dahomey holds his Court, the outer ones, white, those in the centre,
marking the spot occupied by his Majesty, displaying the brightest hues.
[28] C. F. Gordon-Cumming, ‘Pagodas, Aureoles, and Umbrellas,’ _English
Illustrated Magazine_, 1888.
[29] In the Ayin Akbari, or Institutes of the Emperor Akbar, by Abdul
Fazl, Akbar’s great minister, the following enumeration is given of
the ensigns of state ‘which wise monarchs consider as marks of divine
favour’:—
The Aurung or throne, the Chuttur or umbrella, the Sayiban or sun-fan,
and the Kowkebah or stars in gold and other metals which are hung up in
front of the palace; and these four ensigns are used only by kings.
The Alum, the Chuttertowk, and the Tementowk, all varieties of
standards of the highest dignity, appropriated solely by the king and
his military officers of the highest rank.—Birdwood, _Industrial Arts
of India_.
[30] Hon. Wilbraham Egerton, _Handbook of Indian Arms_.
[31] Coomaraswarmy, _Mediæval Sinhalese Art_.
[32] _Hindu Theatre._
[33] In the painting supposed to represent an Irânian Embassy of Khosru
II. of Persia to Pulikêsi II., both flag-fan, long-handled pankhâ, and
fly-flap appear.
[34] The Tooth relic of Buddha, brought by a Brahman princess from
Kālinga in A.D. 313, and since rendered the highest honours.
[35] Anderson, _B.M. Catalogue_, p. 221.
[36] In the romance of _Amadis of Gaul_ it will be remembered that
Appolidon gathered up the superb purple and gold feathers of the Phœnix
which had remained long enough in the island to change its plumage, to
make a fan ornamented with a diamond and carbuncle, as a present from
Amadis to Oriane on arriving at the island.
[37] M. Rondot quotes a passage from a native authority stating that
the Chinese general, Tchou-ko-liang, commanded his three army corps
holding a fan of white plumes.
[38] G. Dumoutier, _Les Symboles, les Emblèmes et les Accessoires du
culte chez les Annamites,_ pp. 116-18.
[39] H. A. Giles, _Strange Stories from a Chinese Studio_, p. 64, note
13.
[40] The traditional account is here given—some explanation of the
absence of definite dates may be found in the hypothesis that there
were _always folding-fans_—that the device of pleating a piece of paper
or other material is so simple that it might occur to the youngest
child. As a matter of fact, Nature herself invented the folded fan, as
she may be said to suggest every invention. The palmetto leaf in its
undeveloped shape is pleated and packed as neatly and completely as any
folding-fan ever made.
[41] This circumstance of the introduction of a new fashion by
courtesans finds a curious parallel in Europe. Stow’s _Chronicle_,
Howes’s edit., 1632, says: ‘Womens Maskes, Buskes, Muffes, Fanns,
Perewigs, and Bodkins were first devised (_sic_) and used in Italy by
_Curtezans_, and there received of the best sort for gallant ornaments,
and from thence they came to England, about the time of the massacre of
Paris.’
[42] S. W. Bushell, _Chinese Art_.
[43] Her Imperial Majesty’s collection of fans has for some time been
dispersed.
[44] Abel Rémusat, _Mélanges posthumes d’histoire et de littérature_,
quoted by G. Ashdown Audsley.
[45] H. A. Giles, ‘Chinese Fans,’ _Fraser’s Magazine_, May 1879.
[46] Kaname, the rock which holds the earth together and keeps it
quiet, means the rivet of a fan. The great earthquake fish Namazu has
the Giant Kashima for keeper, who was charged to subdue the eastern
part of the world, and accomplished this feat by running his sword
through the earth. In time the sword hardened into stone and was named
Kaname (rivet). When Namazu becomes too violent and shakes the earth,
Kashima jumps upon him with the rock Kaname.
[47] ‘Upon a male child being presented at his birth to the temple of
his father’s particular deity, he receives, amongst other gifts, two
fans, while a girl receives a cake of pomade, which brings good looks.’
[48] Henri L. Joly, _Legend in Japanese Art_.
[49] Josiah Conder, _Japanese Costume_.
[50] Mrs. Salwey, _Fans of Japan_.
[51] Anderson, British Museum _Catalogue of Japanese Paintings_.
[52] Chapter XI. page 285.
[53] Beautiful writing is highly prized both in China and Japan.
Caligraphy, says Mr. S. W. Bushell (_Chinese Art_, p. 31), is a branch
of the fine arts in China, and the penman who can write elegantly in
sweeping lines with a flowing brush is ranked above the artist.
[54] In this process of metal inlay, the ground is broken up by means
of an engraver’s tool, the pattern formed of silver wire, hammered in.
[55] The widow of Atsumori who was killed in the fight here referred
to, in 1184, is credited with the invention of the folding-fan,
although dates are somewhat confusing. At the temple of Mieido in
Kyoto, whither she had retired to hide her grief under the garb of
a nun, she cured the abbot of a fever by fanning him with a paper
folding-fan over which she muttered incantations: and to this day the
priests of the temple are considered special adepts in the manufacture
of fans; hence the name Mieido is adopted by many fan shops all over
the islands. (Basil Chamberlain, _Things Japanese_.)
[56] The fan was used as crest by many Japanese families. A number of
examples are given in Mrs. Salwey’s _Fans of Japan_.
[57] Henri L. Joly, _Legend in Japanese Art_.
[58] Mrs. Salwey, _Fans of Japan_.
[59] Ode from the _Manyoshin_, translated by Basil Chamberlain.
[60] _Transactions of the Japan Society_, vol. v. Paper by Mrs. Salwey
on Pastimes and Amusements of the Japanese.
[61] In the Musée Guimet, Paris, is a tea-service, fine in execution,
signed ‘Kawamoto Hansouke,’ an artist of the province of Owari, the
saucers being shaped like fans. In the same collection is a large
plate, fourteen inches in its longest dimension, shaped like a
folding-fan.
[62] Francis Parkman, _La Salle and the Discovery of the Great West_.
[63] Miss Kingsley refers to their use at Egaja, ‘for the purpose of
battling with the evening cloud of sand-flies.’
[64] In the liturgy of St. Chrysostom, after the Benedictus—‘Supra
sancta ventilet reverenter flabello. Si desit flabellum, velo idem
praestat.’ (_Divina Missa S. Joan. Chrysostomi, Goar. Rituale
Graecorum._ p. 76.)
[65] Smith, _Dictionary of Christian Antiquities_.
[66] ‘A.D. 1214, Ornamenta Ecclesie Sarum, inventa in Thesauraria. ij.
flabella de serico et pergameno.’
[67] Dugdale, _History of St. Paul’s_.
[68] ‘Manubrium flabelli argentum deauratum, ex dono Joh. Newton,
thesaurarii, cum ymagine Episcopi in fine enamelyd, pond. v. unc.’
[69] _Registrum Roff._ p. 554.
[70] _Journal of the Archæological Association_, vol. xxvi.
[71] _Archæological Journal_, vol. v.
[72] _Pauli Paciandi de Umbellae Gestatione Commentarius_, Romae, 1752,
p. lxiii.
[73] ‘But yet I have them in great reverence
And honour, saving them from filth and ordure
By often brusshyng and moche dylygence.’
[74] _Memorials of London and London Life in the Thirteenth,
Fourteenth, and Fifteenth Centuries_, by Henry Thomas Riley.
[75] _Revue de l’Art Chrétien_, 1883. Les Disques crucifères, le
Flabellum, et l’umbella.
[76] Harl. MSS. 3601, the date 1295-6, edited by J. W. Clark.
[77] Un esmouchior de drap d’or, a fleur-de-lys, escartelé des armes de
France et de Navarre a un baston d’yvoire et de geste, prisé v Francs
d’or.—Du Cange.
[78] Viollet-le-Duc.
[79] Blondel.
[80] Henry F. Holt, _Journal of the Archæological Association_, vol.
xxvi. (1870).
[81] Elle donna à la reyne Louise de Lorraine une fois pour ses
estreines ung esventail faict de nacre de perles, enrichy de pierreries
et grosses perles, si beau et si riche, qu’on disoit estre un chef
d’œuvre, et l’estimoit on à plus de quinze cens escus.—Pierre de
Bourdeilles, Seigneur de Brantôme, _Mémoires des dames illustrées de
France._
[82] Sir John Cullam, Bart., _History of Hawsted_.
[83] Dr. Birdwood, _Report on Old Records in the India Office_, 1898.
[84] Sir John Francis Davis, F.R.S., _The Chinese_.
[85] _Fans of the Ancients_, p. 27.
[86] A. C. Fox-Davies, _Complete Guide to Heraldry_.
[87] _Ibid._
[88] _Omnium pene Europae, Asiae, Aphricae, atque Americae Gentium
habitus._ Antwerp, 1581.
[89] It is extremely improbable that this fan leaf had ever any
connection with the story given above. It probably belongs to the
latter years of the seventeenth, or the early years of the eighteenth
century.
[90] M. Édouard Petit has written an exhaustive monograph on the
manufacture of fans, _Études, souvenirs et considérations sur la
fabrication de l’éventail_. Versailles, 1859.
[91] _Art and Ornament in Dress._
[92] Fans of scented wood had, earlier, been introduced into the French
Court by Anne of Austria.
[93] S. Redgrave, _South Kensington Catalogue of Fan Exhibition_, 1870.
[94] One of the most potent earlier influences on Spanish painting was
that of Titian, who, although probably never in Spain, painted a number
of pictures for the Escurial.
[95] ‘They all love the feasts of bulls, and strive to appear
gloriously fine when they see them.’—_Memoirs of Lady Fanshawe._
[96] Procès Verbaux, April 26, 1762, Jan. 1765. Lady Dilke, _French
Painters of the Eighteenth Century_, p. 12.
[97] Walter Thornbury, _Legendary Ballads and Songs_.
[98] Qui estoit un montagne de chaux vive sur laquelle les gouttes
d’eau du ciel tumboient à foison et disoient les mots tels en latin:
‘Ardorem extincta testantur vivere flamma.’
[99] Des éventails et pennaches rompus des carquans brisés et ses
pierreries et perles espandues par terre les chaisnes toutes en pieces!
[100] Deux Dialogues du nouveau Langage François, 1578.
[101] Il étoit d’un vélin aussi délicatement découpé qu’il étoit
possible avec la dentelle à l’entour de pareille étoffe.
[102] There are instances in which this order is reversed, the leaf
having been preserved and mounted on more modern sticks.
[103] Ribbons constantly appear on the fans depicted in Bosse’s
engravings, either at the side, half-way up the panache, or at the
rivet.
[104] The well-known story of the portrait of Christina, painted by
Michael Dahl, may be given. One day, while the Queen was sitting
to him, she asked him what he intended to put in her hand. ‘A fan,
please your Majesty.’ ‘A fan!’ exclaimed Christina, starting up with
a tremendous oath. ‘A fan!—A lion, man, is fitter for the Queen of
Sweden.’
The Order of the Fan was instituted later by Louisa Ulrica, in 1744,
for the ladies of the Swedish court, in which the sterner sex was
afterwards included.
[105] Letter 491, 8 Mai 1676.
[106] Le Brun was appointed ‘premier peintre’ in 1662, with twelve
thousand francs a year.
[107] ... ‘Courant de belle en belle,
Sous des lambris dorés et Vernis par Martin.’
[108] ‘Les cabinets où Martin
A surpassé l’art de la Chine.’—VOLTAIRE.
[109] Paul Mantz, _Gazette des Beaux-Arts_, vol. XX.
[110] Translation by Henry Smith Wright, B.A.
[111] ‘Pantins Méchanique,’ a performing figure worked by a string,
much in vogue at this period. See _Engraved Fans of the Seventeenth and
Eighteenth Centuries_, part i. page 226.
[112] Henri Bouchot, ‘History on Fans’ (_Art and Letters_, vol. ii.).
[113] A congratulatory address on this occasion was offered to the
Queen by the market-women of Paris, written by M. de la Harpe on the
inside of the fan of the spokeswoman, to which she repeatedly referred
without the least embarrassment.—Henry F. Holt, _Journal of the
Archæological Association_, vol. xxvi.
[114] See _Engraved Fans of the Seventeenth and Eighteenth Centuries_,
page 227.
[115] _Menagiana._
[116] Pope had, nearly a century earlier, made allusion to the
discontinuance of the fashion:
‘The modest fan was lifted up no more,
And virgins smiled at what they blushed before.’
[117] Steevens.
[118] See Italian fans, p. 109.
[119] Agnes Strickland, _Lives of the Queens of England_. In most
of the early engraved portraits of Catherine of Braganza, the Queen
is represented with a folding-fan, in each instance closed; in one
instance, that of an equestrian portrait, a _large_ fan is depicted.
[120] In Campbell’s _London Tradesman_, 1747, it is recorded that
‘the Italian mounts are much more in request than anything of our own
manufacture, and large prices are given for them.’
[121] H. M. Baird, _The Huguenots and the Revocation of the Edict of
Nantes_.
[122] The Fanmakers’ Company, created by Charter in 1709, for nearly
100 years protected and regulated the trade, until the reduction of
protective duties on foreign fans annihilated the English trade. (Notes
by Colonel Sewell (Fanmakers’ Company), Schreiber MS., British Museum.)
[123] _Spectator_, No. 296.
[124] _Tatler_, December 29, 1709. Letter No. 113. John Hughes.
[125] _Spectator_, No. 102.
[126] E. J. Climenson, _Elisabeth Montagu, Queen of the Blue-stockings_.
[127] The fan of Pope’s epigram was probably Italian. See page 179.
[128] ‘Please notice No. 110, which rather points to one of your
fans not being by Bartolozzi. Perhaps the “Lady of Quality” was Lady
Duncannon.’—Letter by Mr. Lionel Cust to Lady Charlotte Schreiber.
Schreiber MSS., British Museum.
[129] Schreiber MSS., British Museum. _Extracts_, p. 100.
[130] _Journal of the Archæological Association_, vol. xxvi., 1870.
[131] _See_ Meaume, _Recherches sur la vie et les ouvrages de Jacques
Callot_, vol. ii. p. 287.
[132] _Art and Letters_, Jan. 1888.
[133] Honoré de Balzac (_Sur Catherine de Médicis_).
[134] In French salons, about the year 1728, the fashion prevailed of
‘Les Pantins Méchaniques,’ that every one carried and worked by the aid
of strings while chatting of one thing and another. Lacroix, _XVIII
Siècle, France_, 1700-87, p. 507.
From 1748 to 1750 it was in high vogue among the _beau monde_ as a
diverting plaything for gentlemen and ladies. Wright, _Caricature
History of the Georges_, note, p. 251.
[135] The subject of America is returned to later, when in the ‘George
Washington’ fan we have in the centre a portrait of Washington, and,
ranged on either side, portraits of the succeeding ten presidents of
the United States. This, a lithograph, with painted decorations in
silver, bearing the inscription, ‘Vagneur-Dupré. No. 530. Lith. de
Lemercier.’
[136] Several versions of the above subject appear: 1. King seated
under canopy, three notables and three ecclesiastics on either side, M.
Calonne reading speech, 2. King and his two brothers under canopy, four
nobles and four ecclesiastics on either side. 3. A much more elaborate
performance, king and two royal princes under canopy; four nobles and
six ecclesiastics, M. Calonne, and clerk at table; a courtier on each
side of the composition.
[137] _Dictionnaire des Hommes Marquans_, ii. p. 519, quoted by Carlyle.
[138] Richard Heath, ‘Politics in Dress,’ _Woman’s World_, June 1889.
[139] In the Musée du Louvre is a remarkable drawing of the great arch,
with a vast concourse of people, by Jean Louis Prieur, illustrated in
Lady Dilke’s work, _French Engravers and Draughtsmen of the Eighteenth
Century_.
[140] Carlyle.
[141] Carlyle.
[142] Henri Bouchot, _History on Fans_.
[143] See page 164.
[144] Richard Heath, ‘Politics in Dress,’ _Woman’s World_, June 1889.
[145] Henri Bouchot.
[146] Henri Bouchot.
[147] Of the two hundred engravings deposited in the Bibliothèque
Nationale in this year (1796) a hundred and fourteen were fan-designs
mostly in praise of Napoleon. (Henri Bouchot, _History on Fans_.)
[148] Chaudet was a sculptor who made the first statue of Napoleon in
his military dress, that on the Vendôme Column. Fontaine and Persier
were architects to the Tuileries.
[149] Lord Stanhope, alluding to the medals prematurely struck in
honour of Admiral Vernon’s victories at Portobello and Carthagena,
says: ‘Perhaps the most remarkable of all these _médailles prématurées_
is that struck by Napoleon for his intended conquest of England; his
head on the one side; on the other, Hercules struggling with a monster;
the words “Descente en Angleterre”; and beneath, “Frappé à Londres,
MDCCCIV.”’—_History of England_, chap. xxii.
[150] _Encyclopædia Britannica._
[151] A company obtained a concession ratified 15th April 1877. The
Maritime Canal Company was organised May 1899, and in the following
year a construction company was incorporated. The question whether the
canal would be constructed by this route or on the Panama route was
still undecided in September 1902.—_Encyclopædia Britannica._
[152] ‘Hogarth,’ says Walpole, ‘resembles Butler; but his subjects are
more universal, and amidst all his pleasantry, he observes the true end
of comedy—reformation. There is always a moral to his pictures.’
[153] A synopsis of English History, given on a fan, published 1793
by I. Cock and J. P. Crowder, concludes by saying: ‘We may with
pleasure add that one of the Princes, His Majesty’s 2^d son, the
Duke of York, has lately gained honour for the English Nation by the
eminent distinction of the British Troops under his command before
Valenciennes, in the humanity they joined to their valour. Vive, Vive
le Roi!’
[154] M. Gamble had advertised in the _Craftsman_ during the year 1733
‘The Church of England Fan; being an explanation of the Oxford Almanac
for the year 1733, on which the several characters are curiously done,
in various beautiful colours. Price 2s. Likewise a new Edition of the
“Harlot’s Progress in Fans,” with prints of all the three sorts fit to
Frame. Sold at the Golden Fann in St. Martin’s Court, near Leicester
Fields.’
[155] In Boswell’s _Johnson_ are references to Osborne—to the purchase
of the Harleian Library and the publication of the Catalogue, and to
the personal chastisement which Johnson inflicted on him:—‘It has been
confidently related, with many embellishments, that Johnson one day
knocked Osborne down in his shop, with a folio, and put his foot upon
his neck. The simple truth I had from Johnson himself: “Sir, he was
impertinent to me and I beat him. But it was not in his shop; it was in
my own chamber.”’
In Johnson’s _Life of Pope_, Osborne is thus referred to:—‘Pope was
ignorant enough of his own interest to make another change, and
introduced Osborne contending for the prize among the booksellers.’
(_Dunciad_, ii. p. 167.)
‘Osborne was a man entirely destitute of shame, without sense of any
disgrace but that of poverty.’ (_Johnson’s Works_, viii. p. 302.)
[156] This latter is a device by which the second dimension of the
stick (the gorge) is made to slide up into the shoulder, the mount
being double and loose, so as to allow of passing up and down the
stick. By this means, an ordinary sized fan of 10-3/4 ins. is reduced
to 6-3/4. Mr. Crewdson has an example, with paper mount painted
with figures variously occupied, as a soldier drinking at a tent, a
travelling ‘Punch,’ etc. The stick ivory, carved, painted and gilt.
[157] ‘The Fair was granted by Henry I. to one Rahere, a witty and
pleasant gentleman of his Court, in aid, and for the support of, an
Hospital, Priory, and Church, dedicated to St. Bartholomew, which he
built in repentance of his former profligacy and folly. The succeeding
Priors claimed by certain Charters to have a Fair every year, viz. on
the Eve, Day, and the Morrow of St. Bartholomew.’
[158] The Beau always carried a white beaver hat, assumed after he had
lost many of ordinary colours, as he said, to prevent any person taking
it by mistake, though the uncharitable declared the reason for this
singularity was to attract attention. Nash was fond of fine clothes,
and celebrated the King’s Birthday in 1734 by appearing in gold-laced
clothes, in which, says Chesterfield, ‘he looked so fine that, standing
by chance in the middle of the dancers, he was taken by many at a
distance for a gilt garland. (Lewis Melville, _Bath under Beau Nash_.)
[159] Daughter of George II., who paid her first visit to Bath in 1728.
‘Ye nymphs of Bath, come, aid my lay;
Come strike the trembling string;
Amelia’s name so sweetly flows,
Her face and wondrous goodness shows,
Who can refuse to sing.
‘Her presence, like the sun benign,
Sheds blessing, where she deigns to shine:
And brightens all the place;
But, when the Goddess disappears,
Our drooping heads and eyes in tears
Will witness our distress.’
Quoted by Lewis Melville, _Bath under Beau Nash_.
[160]
‘Poor _Bladud_, he was manger grown; his dad, which zum call vather,
Zet _Bladud_ pig, and pig _Bladud_, and zo they ved together.
Then _Bladud_ did the Pigs invect, who, grumbling, ran away,
And vound whot Waters presently, which made him fresh and gay.
_Bladud_ was not so grote a Vool, but seeing what Pig did doe,
He Beath’d and Wash’t, and Rins’d, and Beath’d, from Noddle down
to Toe.
* * * * *
And then he built this gawdy Toun, and sheer’d his Beard spade-ways,
Which voke accounted then a Grace, though not so nowadays.
Thwo thowsand and vive hundred Years, and Thirty-vive to That,
Zince _Bladud’s_ Zwine did looze their Greaze, which we _Moderns_
call Vat.’
CORYATE, _Crudities_.
[161] Goldsmith, _Life of Nash_.
[162] In memory of the happy restoration to Health of the Prince of
Orange, by drinking the Bath Waters, through the favour of God, and to
the joy of Britain, 1734.
[163] The painted fan alluding to the relations between the Prince of
Wales and Mrs. Fitzherbert is referred to on page 195.
[164] In 1726, when Swift took the town by storm with ‘Gulliver,’ every
lady ‘carried Lilliput about with her,’ and Lilliputian fans became the
vogue.
[165] ‘Mr. A. W. Tuer, in a list of Bartolozzi’s works (page 116),
catalogues eighteen fan-mounts, including the one published by A.
Poggi in 1780, but not the one published by Poggi in 1782. Only four,
so far as he knows, were completed as fans, including the 1780 Poggi.
The coppers on which the engravings were made were of large size, so
as to admit of the after addition of the form of the fan, and its
ornamentation. Some of the plates were afterwards cut down, lettered,
and issued as separate prints.’ (Letter of Mr. Lionel Cust to Lady
Charlotte Schreiber, Schreiber MSS., British Museum.)
[166] Redgrave, _South Kensington Catalogue_, 1870.
[167] Duvelleroy, _Exposition Universelle, Paris, 1867, Rapports du
Jury International_, vol. iv.
[168] _Queen_, Christmas Number, 1890.
[169] E. Barrington Nash, _Catalogue of the Third Competitive
Exhibition of Fans at Drapers’ Hall_, 1890.
[170] There is no reason why either sex should claim a monopoly of fan
painting.
[171] Octave Uzanne, _The Fan_.
[172] These details are most kindly supplied by the Private Secretary,
the Hon. A. Nelson Hood, who also photographed the fan for this work.
[173] The above facts are taken from an article in the _Irish Rosary_
for June 1898.
[174] _Art and Ornament in Dress._
[175] The Etruscan sceptre in the gold ornament room, British Museum,
has the top formed like a flower, the petals of beaten gold, the inner
core a large emerald.
INDEX
ABANICO DI NOVIA, 99.
Abano, Portuguese fire-fan, 12, 13.
‘Abolition of the Slave-Trade,’ 226.
‘Achilles and Deidamia,’ 180.
Actæon fan, 146.
‘Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden,’ 194.
Addison, _quotation_, 189.
Ælian. Festival of Apollo at Lencos, 24.
Ajanta, cave-temples, 41.
Akbar-Namah, 45.
Akomé ogi, 63, 64.
Albin, St. M. Philippe de, 223.
Alexander VI., Pope, 107.
Alexandra, H.M. Queen, 195, 278, 292, 293.
Alexandre, M., 278, 279, 281, 290, 291.
Alma-Tadema, Lady, 285.
—— Sir L., 202.
Alum, 36, note, 37.
Amaravati tope, 41.
‘Ancient Marriage,’ 180.
Andaman Islands, 85.
Anderson, Dr., _quotation_, 48, note, 68.
André, Eugène, 55.
Angelo, Michael, 115.
Anne, H.R.H. Princess, 180.
—— Queen, screen of, 288.
Antoinette, Marie-, 117, 132, 159, 166, 167, 168, 169, 213, 225.
‘Antony and Cleopatra,’ 198.
Apostolical Constitutions, 87.
Araki, 73.
_Archæological Association, Journal of_, 93, note.
_Archæological Journal_, 93, note.
Arevalo, Cano de, 127, 128.
Arhats, 62.
Aristophanes, 36.
Aristotle, 118.
‘Ascent of Mont Blanc,’ 276.
Assignat-fans, 223, 224, 227.
Assur-bani-pal, 20, 21, 22.
Assyrian plaited hand-fan, 25.
‘Athenian Stuart,’ 185.
Atsumori, 72, note, 73.
Atterbury, Dr., Bishop of Rochester, epigram 187.
Aubery, MS., prodigious fans, _temp._ Henry VIII., 8.
Audsley, G. Ashdown, 57, note.
Augustine, St., 96.
‘Aurora,’ by Guido, 123.
‘Aurora and Zephyr,’ 132.
Autograph and inscription fans, 58, 59, 68, 69, 285.
‘Autumn’ fan, 59.
Baal, 22.
Baalbek, 23.
Baal-Shemeh, 23.
Bacchus, mystical fan of, 11.
—— and Ariadne, fans of, 122, 123, 124.
Baden, Grand Duke Frederick of, 99.
—— Grand Duchess of, wedding fan, 277.
Badini, Charles Francis, 254.
Baird, H. M., _quotation_, 181.
‘Bal d’Amours,’ 277.
‘Bal des Nations,’ 210.
Bald, Charles the, 98.
Ball at the Tuileries, 1829, 274.
Balloon-fan, 214.
Balzac, Guez de, 26, 144, 168.
Bamboo-fan, 50, 55, 62, 74, 75.
Barclay, _Ship of Fools_, 94.
Barnwell, Cambridge, 98.
Bartholomäus, Frau, 136.
Bartolozzi, 193, 268.
Bastard, 278.
Bat Bu’u, 52.
Battoir fan, 163.
Baude, Alphonse, 277.
Beaumarchais, 213, 215.
Beaussier, Countess de, 152.
‘Before and after Marriage,’ 264.
Behrens, W. L., 70.
Bella, Stefano della, 205.
‘Belle Chanteuse,’ 208.
Bellows or fire fans, 10, 11, 12, and note, 13, 80;
Queen Mary, 102.
Benin, 83.
Berger, Eugène, 278.
Berlin Museum, 98, 269.
Berrettini (Pietro da Cortona), 122.
Berri, Madame la Duchesse de, 274.
Bessborough, Lord, 124.
‘Betrothal of Louis XV. and Marie Leczinska,’ 161.
‘Betrothal of Louis XVI. and Marie-Antoinette,’ 132.
Bèze, Théodore de, 207.
Binyon, Laurence, 73.
Birdwood, Miss Ethel, 170.
—— Sir George, 15, note, 21, 24, _quotation_, 35, 36, note, 107, 170,
298.
Bischoffsheim, Mrs., 163.
Bisschop, Madame, 281.
Blanc, Charles, 3, 121, 297.
Blauchard, M., 214.
Blondel:—Greek figures, 29;
Peru and Mexico, 84;
Middle Ages, 94;
flag-fan, 99, 100, 136;
agricultural fêtes, 171;
lorgnettes, 173;
_quotation_, 279.
Boileau, Étienne, 94.
Boissy, Louis de, _quotation_, 9.
Bonheur, Rosa, 280.
Bosse, Abraham, 148, 150, 151, 152, 204, 207.
Boucher, 142.
Bouchot, Henri, 165, note, 207, 225, 227, 228.
Bradford, Countess of, 167.
Brangwyn, Frank, A.R.A., 295, 296.
Brantôme, 101, 102, note, 144, 145, 166.
Brétigny seal of Edward III., 110.
Bridal-fan of Adelaide of Savoy, Duchess of Burgundy, 158.
—— of Marie-Antoinette, 166, 167.
—— of H.R.H. Princess Anne, 190.
Brisé fan, its construction and decoration, 119;
period of, 119;
modern, 278;
exhibitions of, 282, 283.
Bristol, Dowager Marchioness of, 123, 125, 132, 153, 161, 165, 194,
197, 198, 276.
British Guiana, 80.
—— Museum, 48, 50, 51, 58, 61, 62, 63, 72, 76,80, 82, 83, 84, 85, 91,
93, 205, 232.
‘Broken’ Chinese fan, 58.
Bruyère, Madame la, 169.
Bruÿn, A. de, 111, 112, 196, 197.
Buddha, Gautama, 34; Gaya, 34.
Buddhist priests, Siam, 42.
Bulrushes, 50.
Burdett-Coutts, Baroness, 191, 259.
—— W., 56, 117, 125, 247.
Burges, W., 95, note, 96, 97.
Burma, monastic novitiate of, 6; King of, 34.
Burmese regalia, 43.
Burty, Ph., 71.
Bushell, S. W., 21, 56, note, 69, note.
Butler, 87, 89.
Cabinet de Médailles, Paris, 99.
‘Cabriolet’ fan, 164, 226, 227.
Caïn, Georges, 281.
Caligraphic School, Japan, 62.
Caligraphy, 69, note.
Callamatta, Madame, 281.
Callot Jacques, 204, 207.
Cambridge, Augusta, Duchess of, 166.
Camp-fan (jin sen), 73.
Campbell’s _London Tradesman_, 1747, _quotation_, 179.
Canal, Antonio (Canaletto), 125, 191, 258.
Canning, Lady, 133.
‘Capture of the Balearic Islands,’ 129.
Carlos III., King of Spain, 1759, 129, 130.
Carlyle, Thomas, 215, 218.
Carracci, Agostino, 105, 180, 204.
—— Annibale, 122, 123.
Carrand collection, 90.
‘Carrousel at Madrid,’ 129.
Case or cover of a fan, 21, 22.
Ceremonial fan, 82, 89.
‘Cerf de St. Hubert,’ 280.
Chamba, 44.
Chamberlain, Basil, 72, 75.
Chambers, _Dictionary of Arts and Sciences_, 25, note.
Chambrun, Comtesse de, 165.
Chapel-fan, 251.
Chapt, Madame la Baronne de, _Œuvres Philosophiques_, 3.
Chardin, M., 123.
—— _Voyages_, 35.
Charles V., 99.
Charles, Prof., 213.
Charlotte, Queen, management of fan, 7.
Château de Pierre, excavation at the, 108.
Chaudet, 229.
Chaurie, 38, 39.
Chesterfield, Lord, 259, note.
Child, Josiah, 164.
Children’s fans, exhibition of, 125.
Chinese feather-screens, 288.
Chodowiecki, D., 245, 269.
Chrism, consecrations of, 88.
Chrysostom, St., 88, note.
Chūkei, 65.
Church-fan, 193, 248, 249, 250, 251.
Cipriani, 193, 268.
Clark, J. W., 98, note.
Cleopatra, 19.
Climenson, E. J., _quotation_, 190.
Clouet, François, 138.
Cluny, Musée de, 91, 114, 146.
Coburg, H.R.H. Duke of, 198.
Cochin, Nicolas, 205.
Cockade fan, 83, 100.
Code of the fan (Japan), 65.
Cole, Sir Henry, 280.
Colombia, Republic of, bellows fan, 12.
Columbus Christopher, expedition to America, 107.
Compte-Calix, 278.
Conder, Charles, 294, 295.
—— Frank, 295.
—— Josiah, 64, note.
Connaught, H.R.H. Princess Margaret of, 292.
Consort, Prince, 203.
Conversation or speaking fan, 253.
Coomaraswarmy, A. K., 37, note, 43.
Copts, 41.
‘Coquette, La,’ 208, 209.
Corisandres, 274.
Coronation fan of H.M. Queen Alexandra, 293.
—— banquet of George II., 232.
Corot, 278.
Cortona, Pietro da, 122.
Coryat, Thomas, 112.
Cosway, 195.
Court-fan, 63, 64.
‘Court of Love,’ 296.
Courtesans, 53.
‘Courtship and Marriage of the Dauphin,’ 162, 166.
Cousin, Jean, 138.
Couture, 278.
Cover or case of a fan, 21, 22.
Coverley, Sir Roger de, 187.
Cowper, 289.
Coypel, Antoine, 153.
Craven, Dowager Duchess of, 132.
Cray, Madame du, 169.
Crépy, 208.
Crescent-shaped hand-fan, 40.
Crests, fan-, 110.
Crewdson, Wilson, 50, 64, 255, 288.
Cruikshank, 246.
Crusaders, 25, 100.
Cullam, Sir John, Bart., 103, note.
Cumming, C. F. Gordon, 35, note.
‘Cupid’s Hive,’ 125.
Curiosities in fans, 286, 287.
Cust, Lionel, 193, note, 268.
Cyrenians, sacrifices to fly-catching god, 23.
Dagger-fan, 58.
Dahl, Michael, 153.
Dai Tengu, 60, 61.
D’Albuquerque, Alphonso, 107.
D’Alembert, 153.
Dance-fan, 73, 82.
Dancing-fan (mai ogi), 62, 73.
D’Arblay, Madame, _letter_, 7-8, 192.
Date of a fan, important consideration in determining, 149.
Davenant, Sir W., 101.
Davis, Sir John Francis, 107.
Découpé fan, 114, 146, 178.
Delhi, 42.
Derivation of the word _fan_, 10.
Derri, Nubia, Temple of, 15.
‘Descente en Angleterre, 1803,’ 229.
‘Désespoir des Pensionnaires,’ 222.
Desroches, Mlle., 114, 115.
Devauçay, Madame, 174.
Devonshire, Georgiana, Duchess of, 195.
D’Hautefort, Mlle., 105.
Diamonds, in handles, 103.
Diaz, 275, 278.
Dilke, Lady, 139, note.
Disc standards, Assyrian, 25, 37.
Disraeli, Benjamin, _Contarini Fleming_, 4, 135.
Disvāta, 37.
Dobson, Austin, 239.
Doran, Dr., 7, note.
Doré, Madame, 144.
‘Double-entente,’ Chinese, 58.
Double or reversible fan, 120, 121.
Drake, Sir Francis, 103.
Drapers’ Hall Exhibition, 1878, 122.
Drawings of fans by Poggi, 193.
Dreher, Conrad, 286.
‘Droits de l’Homme, Les,’ 221.
Dryden, John, 163.
Duchâtel, Countess, 159.
Duck-foot or Ferrara fan, 107.
‘Duck-Hunting,’ 252, 253.
Dugdale, 92, note.
Dumoutier, G., 52, note.
Duncannon, Lady, 124.
Dutch painted fans, 196;
early use, 197;
painted mounts, 197;
historical and fanciful subjects, 198;
treatment of the mount, 198;
French, Italian, and Chinese influences on the treatment
of the mount, 198;
Flemish, 199;
varnish, 200;
ivory brisé, 200;
horn, 201;
small decorated spangled, 201;
sticks, 202.
‘Dutch Settlements in the East Indies,’ 197.
Duvelleroy, M., 121, 124, 137, 276, 278, 279, 291, 293.
Dyonisia, 11.
Early history of fan, Japan, 60.
East India Company, 176.
Edward III., Brétigny seal of, 110.
Egerton, Hon. Wilbraham, 37, note.
Egyptian fan, plaited hand, 13;
processional 14, 15, 16, 17;
semicircular hand, 13, 14;
square, 19.
Eleanor, Queen, 102.
‘Eleanora d’Este,’ 113.
Elena, Queen of Italy, 291.
Elizabeth, Queen, 102, 178.
Emblem, fan, 17, 18, 39.
Embroidered Dutch fans, 199.
Employment of fans in religious ceremonies, 15, 20, 27, 52, 87-94.
Enamel, 55, 56.
Énault, Louis, 136.
Engraved fans of the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, French—
Earliest, 204.
Classical, 206.
Topical, 207.
Naval and military, 207.
Separation of America from England, 212.
Capture of Granada, 212.
Louis Seize, 212.
Birth of the Dauphin, 212.
Professor Charles’s balloon, 214.
Beaumarchais’ comedy, _Le Mariage de Figaro_, 216.
Operatic, 216.
The Revolution, 219.
Mirabeau, 223.
Paper-money difficulties, 223, 224, 227.
Abolition of the Slave-Trade, 226.
Cabriolet, 227.
Napoleon Bonaparte, 228, 229.
Russian campaign of 1812, 230.
Nicaragua Canal, 230.
Engraved fans of the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, English—
Coronation of George II., 232.
_Beggar’s Opera_, 233.
Marriage of the Crown Princess with Prince of Orange, 234.
William Hogarth, 238.
Victories of Admiral Vernon, 240, 241.
The unpopular Prime Minister, 241.
Jacobite Rebellion, 243.
Peace of Aix-la-Chapelle, 244.
Death of the Prince of Wales, 1751, 244.
Taking of Quebec, 244.
Marriage of George IV., 246.
Lord Howe’s victory, 247.
Trial of Warren Hastings, 247.
Popular resorts, 256.
Opera, 262.
Lord Hardwicke’s New Marriage Act of 1753, 267.
Processes of, 270.
Entertainment fans, 256.
‘Entomologist,’ 280.
Eugénie, Empress, 57, 279, 280, 281.
Euripides, _quotation_, 29.
‘Éventail brisé,’ 119.
Excise fan, 234.
Fabri, Alex., 147.
Fair fans, 256, 257.
Fairholt, _quotation_, 178.
Fan and towel or handkerchief beaters, 21.
Fan as decorative motif in design, 76.
Fan as emblem of life, Japan, 20, 60.
Fan-bearer, office of, 16;
privileges of, 19;
Assyrian, 20, 21;
badge of Assyria, 20.
Fan games, 75, 76.
Fan-shops, Paris, 151; London, 187.
Fannière Brothers, 278.
Feast of Lanterns, 46.
Feather-fans, Greek, 29, 30;
Etruscan, 30;
Roman, 30, 87;
India, 40;
China, 46;
wing-shaped, 47, 57;
primitive, 77;
eagle, 82;
Venetian, 99;
France, Charles V., 100;
twelfth to sixteenth centuries, 101;
white and coloured, 102;
France, 144;
English, 176;
modern, 287, 288, 289, 290;
woodcock, 289.
Feather-wands, 84.
Feather-work, 50, 288.
Fell, H. Granville, 296.
Ferrara, or duck’s-foot fan, 107.
‘Fête de l’Agriculture,’ 171.
‘Fête de la Fédération,’ 222.
‘Fête on the Piazzetta,’ 125.
Feuchères, Jean, 278.
Feure, Georges de, 297.
Fielding, Henry, 256.
Figaro fans, 216.
Filigree, 55, 56, 57, 58.
Fitzherbert, Mrs., 195.
Flabelliferæ, 15, 31, 45.
Flabellum, Egyptian, 16;
leek-green, 32;
Christian, 87-97;
early adoption by the Latin Church, 88;
symbolism of, 88;
types of, 89; Tournus, 89, 90;
handle, French twelfth century, 91, 92;
capital, North German, 92;
peacock, 94;
metal, 99;
cockade, 100.
Flagellum, the mystical _vannus_, 11.
Flag-fans: India, 41, 42, 44;
West Africa, 83;
Europe, 97;
Coptic, 98;
Venice, 99.
Flamand, Le, 168.
Fleury, Robert, 275.
Flies, Baal-zebub, lord of the, 22, 23.
_Floire, The_, 101.
Flory, M. A., 7, note.
Fly-hunter (Jupiter Myiodes), 23; Hercules, 23.
Fly-whisk or fly-flap, primitive Egyptian, 14;
Assyrian, 22, 25;
Roman, 28, 31;
Indian, 38, 39, 44, 45, 62;
primitive peoples, 84, 85;
black horse-hair, 86;
Abyssinian, 86;
peacock feathers, 92;
palm leaves, 98.
Fol, Walther, 279.
Folding or pleated fans, 28, 52, 53, 57, 58;
bamboo, 62, 65;
war, 70;
French, 145;
English, 176;
modern, 272.
Forrers, Robert, 98.
Fortune-telling fans, 254, 255, 256.
Fox-Davies, A. C., 110, 111.
Fragonard, 167.
Franklin, Benjamin, 170.
Franks collection, 161, 199.
Freij, Jacobus, 122.
Friederichsy, Baroness, 286.
Fuji san (peerless mountain), 75.
‘Galant, Le,’ 208.
Gamble, M., 233, 234, 237, 248, 255, 264.
Games of the fan, 75, 76.
Garnier, 278.
Gautier, Théophile, 135.
Gavarni, 278, 279.
Gay, 2.
Genlis, Madame de, _Dictionary of Etiquette_, 174.
_Gentleman’s Magazine_, quotation, 182, 183, 186.
‘George Washington,’ 212.
Germanus, 89.
Germo, Leonardo, 123.
Gérôme, 275.
Giant fans, 74.
Gibson, Mrs. Frank W., 132.
Giles, H. A., 52, note, 59, note.
Girardin, Madame de, 278.
Glaize, 275, 278.
Gluck, 216.
Gold Coast, 84.
Gold-handled fans, 102, 103.
Goldoni, _The Fan_, 6, 7, 126, _quotation_.
Goncourt, MM. de, 17 2, _quotation_.
Gore, Sir Humphrey, 180.
Gosson, Stephen, _quotation_, 177.
Götz, Prof. Hermann, 284.
Goupy, 185.
Goya, Francisco, 134.
Granville, Countess, 280.
Grass or rush fans, 77, 79, 83.
Gravelot, 191.
‘Great Lottery of 1714,’ 190.
Greek Church, 94.
Grégoire, 226.
Grétry, 216.
Grignan, Madame de, 154, 159.
Guido, ‘Aurora’ of, 123.
Guimet, Musée, 50, 51, 76, note.
Gumbai Uchiwa, 62.
Gun Sen, 62.
Gypsy fans, 254, 255, 256.
Halberd-shaped fans, 42.
Hall, Bishop, 105.
Hammett, Lydia, 293.
Hamon, Jean Louis, 278, 279, 280.
Han dynasty, sculptures, 21, 26, 49, 58.
Hand-fan: Egyptian plaited, 13;
Assyrian, 25;
primitive, 77, 78, 79;
Egyptian semicircular, 13, 14.
Hand-screen, engraved design for a, by Agostino Carracci, 105;
feather, 105;
straw, 196;
engraved, 204, 217.
Handles at Museums, 14, 30, 105; Gold Coast, 84.
‘Harlot’s Progress,’ 238, 239.
Harpe, M. de la, 168, note.
Harvey, John, 180.
Hastings, Warren, trial of, 247.
Hawaiian Islands, 79, 80, 84.
Heart-shaped fans: Greek, 28, 44; primitive, 78.
Heere, Lucas de, 178.
Hefner-Altenek, 112.
Heine, Madame Charles, 129.
Hennin collection (Bibliothèque Nationale), 165,195.
Hervey Islands, 79.
Hi ogi, 62, 64, 69.
Hide-fans, 77, 80, 83.
Hildebert, St., 88.
Hindu theatre, 39, note.
Hiroshige II., 72.
Hogarth, William, 238.
Hohenlohe-Langenburg, H.S.H. Princess Victor of, 132.
Hokusai, 69. 72.
Holmes, Randle, 94.
Holt, H. F., 101, note, 203.
Hörman, Christopher Fredr., 205.
Horn, 120, 201.
Horniman Museum, 38, 83.
Hotei, 61, 67, 68.
Hsi-Wang-Mu, fan of, 47-49.
Hughes, John, _Tatler_, 189, note.
—— Mr. Talbot, 134.
Humorous fans, 265.
Hunefer, papyrus of, 18.
Hunt, W. Holman, 24, note.
Hussein Dey, 273.
Imperial Museum, Tôkyô, 68.
‘Impracticable,’ 58.
Incrustation, process of, mother of pearl, 119.
India Museum, 38, 39, 44, 51, 86.
Ingres, 275.
Innocent XI., Pope, 232.
Inscription or autograph fans, 58, 59, 68, 69, 285.
Invention of fan: China, 46; Japan, 63.
Inventories: St. Riquer, Amiens, La Sainte Chapelle, Ely, Salisbury,
St. Paul’s, 92;
Exeter, 92;
of pledges, 1303, 95;
Comptesse Mahaut d’Artois, Queen Clémence, Johanne d’Evereux,
Charles V., 100;
Queen Elizabeth, 103.
Isabella, queen of Edward II., 93.
Isabey, 275.
Isis, priest of, 27.
Ivory, 51, 53, 55, 57, 58, 64, 65, 74, 89, 91, 105, 114, 118, 125, 129,
134, 147, 161, 162, 166, 174, 192, 194, 197, 199, 200, 201, 203, 212,
244, 273, 280.
Jacobite Rebellion, 243.
Jacquemart, 275, 278.
Jane of Navarre, 196.
Jeaffreson, _quotation_, 267.
Jewelled fans, 102.
Jews, names of cities of, 22.
Joachim-Gibson, Mrs., 286.
Johnston, Mrs. Bruce-, 124, 166.
Joly, Henry L., 73, note.
Josephs, Marie, 125.
Jubinal, Madame Achille, 99, 122, 174.
‘Judgment of Paris,’ 158, 206.
Juro, 61.
Kaname, or rivet, 60, note.
Kanaoka, 66.
Kanō San Raku, 68.
Kapiolani, Queen, 79.
Kasuga Motomitsu, 66.
—— Takayoski, 68.
Kauffmann, Angelica, 120, 193, 194, 268.
Kells, Book of, 87, 89, 93.
Kendal, Mrs., 287.
Kew Museum, 44.
Khaskhás root, 44.
King, Jessie, 297.
Kingsley, Miss, 84, note.
Klagmann, 278.
Klimsch, Prof. Eugen, 284.
Kôyetsu, 69.
Krishna, 44.
Kunisada, 69.
Kuniyoshi, 71.
Kyoto, 69.
Lace mounts, 291.
Lacquer, 53, 54; gold, 55, 75, 76, 156, 157.
La Farge, Raymond, 144.
Lami, Eugène, 275, 278.
‘La petite bestiole,’ story of, 115.
Lancey, Col. de, 195.
Lancret, 144.
Lane, Mr. and Mrs. John, 295.
Language of the fan, 136, 137, 253.
Lanoy, 278.
La Salle, Le Sieur de, 82, 83.
Layard, Nineveh, 11, note, 22, 25, note.
Le Brun, Charles, 139, 154, note.
Legends of the fan, 72.
Leicester, Earl of, 102.
Lewis, Mrs. Arthur, 286.
Lilliputian fans, 263.
Linas, Charles de, 30, 97, 98.
Lindsay, Lady, 133, 158.
Lithography, 271.
Liturgic fans, 97.
Loire, Nicholas, 204, 206.
Loti, Pierre, 64.
Louise, H.R.H. Princess, Duchess of Argyll, 198, 277, 282.
Love fans, 262;
classes of, 262;
courting fan mounts, 263.
Lovers’ Agency Bureau, 155.
Mahábhárata, 33.
Maintenon, Madame de, 158.
Mai ogi, 62.
Makart, Hans, 283.
Making of a fan, number of persons employed, 121.
Malay Kris, 58.
‘Malbrouk,’ 207, 208, 211, 213.
Mantz, Paul, 143, 160, note.
‘Marat’ fans, 225-226.
Marcel, Gabriel, 131.
Margaret, Queen, 102.
Maria Theresa of Spain, 154, 162, 163.
Marie-Antoinette, 117, 132, 159, 166, 167, 168, 169, 213, 225.
Marquesas, 79.
Marriage fans of Charles II., 180.
‘Marriage of Cupid and Psyche,’ 123.
‘Marriage of Louis XIV. and Maria Theresa,’ 154.
‘Marriage of Napoleon with Marie Louise,’ 229.
Marston, Satires, 101.
Martial, _quotation_, 28, 31.
Martin, Julian, 156.
—— Robert, 156.
—— Simon-Étienne, 156.
—— William, 156.
Mary, H.R.H. Princess, 292.
—— Queen, 102.
Masanobu, 67.
—— Kiato, 69.
Matabei, 73, 85.
Mathilde, Princess, 281.
Meehan, _Famous Houses of Bath_, quotation, 261.
Medallion fan after Cosway, 195.
Medicis, Catherine de’, 144.
Meir, Rabbi Joseph Ben, 24.
Melville, Lewis, _quotation_, 259, 260.
_Menagiana_, quotation, 173.
_Mercure de France_, quotation, 149, 157.
Meredith, George, _Harry Richmond_, 4, 5.
Mésangère, M. de la, 105.
Messel, L. C. R., 71, 105, 114, 115, 153, 175, 187, 202, 288.
Meyer, M., 119, 277.
Mica, 78, 113, 114.
‘Midnight Modern Conversation, 1733,’ 239.
Mignard, Pierre, _Le Romain_, 140.
Ming dynasty, 54.
Mirabeau fans, 223.
Mita ogi, 73.
Modern and present-day fans, 74, 272;
decline of the fan industry and its causes, 272, 276;
conquest of Algeria by the French, 273;
production in 1847 and 1848 compared, 276;
machinery, 277;
brisé, 275;
exhibitions, 282, 283;
autograph and inscription, 285;
revival of ostrich feather, 287;
lace mounts, 291.
Montague, Mrs., 189, 288.
Monza, 95-97.
Moral reflections of a female reformer, 250.
More, Sir Thomas, _anecdote_, 9, note.
Moreau, Édouard, 290.
Morley, Henry, 236, 257.
Morrison collection, 73.
Moschus, 88.
Moss, Miss, 119, 166, 191, 198, 208, 273.
Mother of pearl, 53;
China, 55;
Japan, 74;
Queen Elizabeth, 102;
kinds of, 118.
‘Motion’ fan, 241, 242.
Motonobu, 67.
Mounts, Italian, 122;
subjects of, 123;
Neapolitan, 124;
French, 122, 123;
English, 179;
Dutch, 197.
Mourning-fans, 194, 225, 244.
Mozart, 216.
Müller, Karl, 278.
Murray, C. Fairfax, 238.
Musée de Cluny, 91, 114, 146.
—— de Louvre, 222.
—— des Arts Décoratifs, Paris, 281.
Museo Civico, Venice, 273.
—— Gregorio, Rome, fan handles, 30.
—— Nazionale, Florence, 89.
Nai-To, 71.
Nan-ratan, or nine stone, 43.
Napoleon Bonaparte, 228, 229.
‘Napoleon shows his Troops the Channel,’ 229.
Nardaillac, Comtesse de, 279.
Nash, Beau, 258, 261.
—— E. Barrington, 276.
Nassau fans, 235, 236, 237, 238.
Neapolitan fans, 124.
Necromantic fans, 254, 255, 256.
Negroni collection, 285.
Nemours, Duchess de, 180.
New Nassau fan, 237.
Nigeria, 82, 83.
Nimroud, 20, 25.
Nitôcris, Queen, 19.
‘Nō’ drama, 63.
Nollekins, 185.
North American Indian fans, 14.
Northcliffe, Lady, 122, 123, 134, 165.
Oblong fans, 50.
Oldroyd, Miss L., 293.
Oliver, Peter, 180.
Olympian games, 23.
—— Jupiter, 23.
‘Oncle’ fans, 215.
Onola, Countess, 286.
Opera fans, French, 216, 217;
English, 262.
Operations of the pleating of the fan, 121.
Orange fan, 237.
Order of the fan, Sweden, 153, note.
Origin of the fan, 1-3.
Osborne, Thomas, 8, 252, 253.
—— Miss, 187.
Osiris, 15.
Ostrich, 40; folded, 105.
Ottley, Captain J. E., 122.
Ovid, _quotation_, 32.
Packering, Sir J., 103.
Paciandi, 93, note.
Painted fans of the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries—
ITALIAN.—
Introduction of the folding-fan into Europe, 107;
excavation at the Château de Pierre, 108;
decorative development, 109;
earliest forms, 113;
construction, 116;
character of the sticks, 117;
ornamentation, 117, 118:
brisé fans, 119;
double or reversible, 120, 121;
mounts, 122, 123;
Neapolitan, 124;
children’s fans, 125;
superiority of the workmen, 126.
SPANISH, 127;
Italian influence on art, 128;
alliance of the House of Bourbon, 130;
Treaty of Paris, 130;
classical revival, 131;
character of the stick, 132, 133;
influence of Francisco Goya, 133, 134;
varieties of, 135;
language of, 136, 137.
FRENCH.—
Italian influence on, 138;
influences of Jean Cousin, François Clouet, 138;
Charles le Brun, 139;
Bernini, Borromini, 140;
the Revolution, 143;
introduction of Italian feather-fans, 144;
folded fans, 145;
découpé fans, 146;
importance of the industry, 146;
constitution of a corporate body of fanmakers under Louis XIV., 146;
prices obtained in 1753, 147;
painting and its influence during the reign of Louis XIII., 150;
Paris fan-shops, 151;
introduction of Spanish fashions, 152;
reign of the Grand Monarque, 154;
lacquering, 156, 157, 158;
Vernis Martin, 158;
classical influence, 163;
‘cabriolet’ fans, 164;
relapse of the industry, 165;
Handel and Gluck, 166;
custom of presenting wedding fans, 167;
influence of the Directoire and Empire periods, 170;
straw and spangles, 172;
gauze or net, 172;
lorgnette or opera-glass fan, 172;
reduction in size, 174.
ENGLISH.—
Early use of the folded fan, 176;
plumed fan, 176;
découpé, 178;
gigantic green-shading fans, 179;
influence of the trade with India, 179;
importation of Italian fan mounts, 179;
earliest fans, 180;
marriage fans of Charles II., 180;
charter of incorporation granted by Queen Anne, 181;
fan makers’ petition to Parliament demanding prohibition
of importation of fans from India, China, and the East, 182;
tax upon wooden- and feather-fans, 182;
importation of feather-fans forbidden, 182, 184;
disputes between Fanmakers’ Company and journeymen, 182;
extent of the industry and adverse conditions in the middle
of the eighteenth century, 182;
tea-merchants as dealers in imported fans, 183;
principal enactments regulating importations, 184;
London fan-shops, 187;
large fans, 187;
selection of partners at dancing assemblies, 189;
influence of peace between Austria and France, 190;
spangles, 191;
ivory brisé, 194;
Wedgwood, 194;
Napoleonic wars, 195.
DUTCH.—
Early uses, 197;
mounts, 197;
historical or fanciful subjects, 198;
influence of France, Italy, and China on the treatment
of the mount, 198;
Flemish, 199;
varnish, 200;
ivory brisé, 200;
horn, 201;
small decorated spangled, 201;
sticks, 202.
GERMAN.—
Medallion, 203;
lace or net, 203;
eighteenth century the era of the fan, 203.
Palliser, Mrs. Bury, 291.
Palm fans, 2, 42, 43;
lateral, 43, 78;
natural 77;
Talipot, 78;
Palmyra, 78.
Pankhá, 40, 41, 45, 78.
Papperitz, Georg, 284.
Parchment fens, 87.
Paris, Madame la Comtesse de, 203.
Parkman, Francis, 83, note.
Pasquier, Étienne, 115, 160.
Pattern fans, Etruscan, 30.
Pausanias, 23, 24, note.
‘Peace of Aix-la-Chapelle,’ 190.
Peacock: 30, 31, 39;
Greek, 29, 30;
Roman, 31, 87;
emblem, 39, 44;
India, 40;
quills, 42;
China, 46, 47;
feathers, 51, 87, 89;
Musci-fugium, 93;
plumes of, 101.
Perrot and Chipiez, 22, 24.
Persians, ventilating fan, 25;
fan crest, 27.
Petit, Édouard, 121, note.
Petrie, Prof. W. M. Flinders, 15.
Pheasant, 46; Argus, 54.
Philibert, St., 90.
Philippe le Bel, 196.
Phœnicians, 27.
Phœnix, 51, 56.
Phré, sacred barque of, 15.
‘Piazza of St. Mark, Venice,’ 125.
Pichard, le Sieur, 144.
Pictorial art, 141.
Piis, Augustin de, 2.
Pinchbeck, Jonathan, 235, 236, 237, 238, 243, 258, 259, 263, 264.
Piqué work, 117;
employment of, 119.
Plautus, flabelliferæ, 31.
Pleated fans, _vide_ Folded fans.
Pliny, sacrifices of Cyrenians, 23.
Poggi, 192, 193.
Poigey, Dr., 144.
Pollen, Mrs. Hungerford, 195.
‘Pompadour’ fan, 166.
Pompadour, Marquise de, 122.
Ponsonby, Lady, 124.
Pope, _quotation_, 174, note, 179.
Popelin, Claudius, 281.
Popular resorts, fans of, 256, 258, 259, 260, 261, 262.
Portraits, fans appearing in:
Queen Elizabeth, Anne of Denmark, Princess Elizabeth, wife
of John Pen, Esq., Sebastian del Piombo, 104;
Maria Giuseppa, Archduchess of Austria; Maria Cardina, Queen
of Naples; Queen Maria Cristina di Borbone; Queen Maria Louisa, 129.
Portugal, 100, 107.
Poussiégle, Achille, 285.
Present-day fans, _vide_ Modern fans.
‘Prince of Wales and Mrs. Fitzherbert,’ 195.
Prince of Wales (King Edward VII.), 34.
—— (King George IV.), 195.
Printed fans, 269.
Processional fans, Egyptian, 14, 15, 16, 17;
India, 42.
‘Promenade, the,’ 159.
Propertius, flabella, 31, 32.
Prouille, Monastery of, 91.
Rama, 39.
Rambert, C., 280.
Rameses XII., temple of, 15.
‘Rape of Helen,’ 158.
Raphael, 123.
Ratisbon, 35.
Rawlinson, Sir Henry, 22, note.
‘Reason for the Motion,’ 243.
Redgrave, S., 132, note, 150, 200, 276.
References of the fan in Holy Writ, 10, 11, 22.
Registrum Roff, 92, note.
Reiset, Frédéric, 174.
Rémusat, Abel, 57, note.
Reversible or double fan, 120, 121.
Rheims, 93.
Riant, Madame, 158.
Richelieu, Duc de, 149.
Riegl, Alois, 25.
Riester, 278.
Rikiu ogi, 73.
Riley, Henry Thomas, 95, note.
‘Rinaldo in the Garden of Armida,’ 166, 199.
Robespierre, 226.
Robinson, Sir John, 180.
—— Sarah, 180.
Rodney, Admiral, 245.
Roll-up fans, 74.
Romanelli, F., 122.
Rondot, Natalis, 49, 52, note, 53, 272, 273, 275, 277.
Roqueplan, Camille, 278.
Rosenberg, G. J., 99, 122, 154, 158, 284, 291.
Rothschild, Leopold de, 159, 273.
—— Baroness Meyer de, 192.
—— Baroness Salomon de, 43.
Rouen, 93.
Rousseau, 227.
—— Philippe, 278.
Royal Family, fans of, 245, 246, 247.
Rubens, 197.
Rush or grass fans, 77, 79, 83.
Ruspae, Bishop of, 98.
Rutlinger, J., 104.
Rutz, Gaspar, 8, note.
‘St.Peter’s, Rome,’ 125.
Sala, George Augustus, 2, 190, 298.
Salting collection, 91, 105.
Salwey, Mrs., 65, note, 73, 74, note, 76, note.
Sanchi, Tope, 34.
Sandalwood, 53, 55, 57, 58.
Sandwich Islands, 79.
‘Sans Gêne,’ 172.
Sargent, 215.
Sayiban, or sun-fan, 36, note.
Scaliger, 24.
Scented wood, 128.
Schönleber, Prof. Gustav, 284.
Schools of Japanese painting, 65, 66, 67.
Schreiber collection, British Museum, 6;
‘Aurora’ of Guido, 123;
‘Carrousel at Madrid,’ 129;
Surrender of Minorca, 1782, 133;
‘Grand Monarque,’ 154, 155;
Tea-merchant’s trade card, 183;
Goupy’s fan mount, 185;
Lionel Cust’s letter, 193;
Loire’s ‘Desseins de grands
Éventails,’ 206;
‘Biaggini’s Air Balloon,’ 214;
Figaro fans, 216;
‘Duc d’Orléans as Sponsor,’ 218;
‘Nicaragua Canal,’ 230;
‘Harlot’s Progress,’ 239;
‘Admiral Rodney,’ 245;
Royal visit to Royal Academy, 246;
‘Marriage of Prince of Wales’ (George IV.), 247;
opera fan, 262;
widowhood, 268;
‘Ascent of Mont Blanc,’ 276;
Madame Bisschop’s fan, 281.
Schreiber, Lady Charlotte, 193, 205, 244, 259, 268, 281.
Screens, pear-shaped, 48, 61;
white jade, 50;
hand, 50, 51, 75;
straw hand, 195;
engraved hand, 204, 217;
circular, 50, 51, 53, 61, 69;
cockade, 51;
ceremonial banner, 51, 61;
rigid, 61, 62, 69, 127;
silk, 61;
palm, 75;
large round, 127;
chinese feather, 288;
Queen Anne, 288.
Seliger, Max, 284.
Senefelder, Aloys, 271.
Sen-no Rikiu, 74.
Septvans, Sir Robert de, arms of, 11.
Seraphim, 88.
Sēsata, Cingalese, 37.
Sesshiu school, Japan, 62, 65, 66.
Sévigné, Madame de, 154, 159.
Sewell, Colonel, 183.
Shakespeare, _quotation_, 8, 9, 11, note, 19, 101, 176.
Shaku, 64, 65.
‘Sheba, Queen of,’ fan, 133.
Shunsui, 71.
Silk, 57, 71, 75.
Silver-handled fans, 101, 103.
Skin fans, chicken, 268; asses’, 273.
Smith, _Dictionary of Greek and Roman Antiquities_, 12, note;
_Dictionary of Christian Antiquities_, 88, note.
—— Albert, Ascent of Mont Blanc, 276.
—— W. Harding, 70.
Soldé, A., 277, 288.
Solomon Islands, 79.
Sommerand, Du, 91.
South-Eastern Pacific, 84.
Spanish lady, management of the fan, 4.
Spatula, 80.
Speaking or conversation fan, 253.
Spear-shaped fans, 78.
_Spectator_, 4, 187, 189.
Spiers, R. Phené, 76.
Stanhope, Lord, 229.
Statutes regulating the fan industry, 146.
Steele, _Tatler_, 5-6, 179, 187.
Stiletto, _Italian_, 58.
‘Storming of the Bastille,’ 219, 220, 221.
Stow’s _Chronicle_, 53.
Strange, Sir Robert, 243.
Strickland, Agnes, _quotation_, 179.
Strogonoff collection, 25.
‘Stuart, Athenian,’ 185.
Sudan, Western, 84.
Sim goddess, 74.
‘Surrender of Malta,’ 195.
‘Surrender of Minorca’ 133.
Sutherland, Duke of, 195.
Suye hiro ogi (wide end), 63.
‘Swanne downe,’ 102.
Swift, Dean, 263.
Swinging-fans, 25.
Sydney, Sir Robert, 103.
Tabellæ, Roman, 32, 51.
Tadahira, 65.
Tahiti, 85.
Taira, 69, 72.
Taishin, 74, 75.
Tajima, 8, 69.
Talc, 44.
Tallien, Madame, 171.
Tanagra figures, 29.
Tanjore, 44.
Taoist Genii, 47, 61, 67.
Tasso, Torquato, legendary account of, 113.
_Tatler_, John Hughes, 189.
—— Steele, 5, 6, 179, 187.
Tea ceremony, China, 57;
Japan, 74.
Tea fans, 74.
Terence (_Eunuchus_), _quotation_, 31.
Testament du Louis XVI., 224.
Tête-à-tête fan, 254.
Theodolinda, Queen, 95, 97.
Thiac, M. de, 169.
Thomas, Felix, 24.
Thornbury, Walter, 142.
‘Toilette de Madame la Marquise de Montespan,’ 159.
Tomkinson, M., 56, 75.
Tonga Islands, 85.
Tooth relic of Buddha, 43, note.
Topical fans, 206.
Topographical fans, 191.
Tortoise-shell, 53, 54, 57, 58, 74, 119. 132.
Tournus, 89, 96, 97.
Trevelyan, Sir W. C., Bart, 85.
Trèves, Gospel of, 93.
‘Trial of Warren Hastings,’ 247.
‘Trips to Gretna,’ 267.
‘Triumph of Alexander’ (after Le Brun), 123.
‘Triumph of Amphitrite,’ 180.
‘Triumph of Bacchus,’ by A. Carracci, 180.
‘Triumph of Mordecai,’ 123.
Tsunenori, 65.
Tsunetaka, 66.
Turtle-shell, 50.
Ukiyoyé school, 66.
Ulféda, 97.
Ulrica, Louisa, 153.
Umbrella, importance and significance of, in the East, 33-36;
in Bacchic processions, 36;
in early Persian reliefs, 35;
form-connection between fan and umbrella 36;
Cingalese, 36.
Uses of the fan, 3-9, 60.
Uzanne, M., 2, 27, 273, 285.
Vaillant, 278.
Valmiki, 39.
Vandyke, 197.
Van Loon, 197.
Vannus, 10, 11.
Varnish, 156, 157.
Vasco da Gama, expeditions of, 107.
Vatican, 93.
Vecellio, 107, 109, 113, 127, 147, 196.
Velasquez, 128.
‘Ventosus,’ 187.
‘Venus and Adonis,’ 123.
Vernet, Carl, 227.
Vernet, Horace, 275.
‘Vernis Martin,’ 125, 168, 161, 200.
Vernon, Admiral, 240, 241.
Vibert, 275.
Victoria and Albert Museum, 47, 74, 83,91, 112, 196, 281, 282.
Victoria, Queen, 159, 198, 202, 203, 277, 279, 282, 283.
Viollet-le-Duc, M., 108.
Virgil, mystical fan of Bacchus, 11;
_Eclogues_, 91.
Voisin, M., 161.
Voltaire, 156;
_quotation_, 157.
Voorde, Aloys van de, 278.
Vouet, Simon, 139.
Waddell, Dr., 34.
Wagner fans, 286.
Wales, H.R.H. Princess of, 166, 289, 290.
—— H.R.H. Princess Maude of, 292.
Walker, Robert, 155, 181.
Walker sale, 1882, 163, 168, 180, 190, 191, 193, 195, 199, 244, 259.
Wallace collection, 125.
Walpole, Horace, _quotation_, 164, 215, 241.
—— Sir Robert, 233.
War caused by a fan, 273.
War fans, 70, 71, 72.
Water fans, 62, 74.
Watteau, 141, 144, 159.
Wattier, 278, 280.
Wedding fans, 132, 133, 277.
West, M., 193.
West Africa, 83.
West, Benjamin, 123.
_Westminster Journal_, quotation, 182.
Whyte, Rowland, 103.
Wide end (Suye hiro ogi), 63.
Widowhood fans, 267.
Wilkinson, Sir J. Gardner, 11, note.
William IV., 166.
Wilson, G., 265, 266.
Windsor Castle collection, 159.
Winnowing-fan, 10, 11, 13.
Wolfe, General, 244.
Woodcock feather-fan, 289.
Wooden-fans, China, 52.
Wright, Henry Smith, 164.
Wyatt collection, 53, 54;
Chinese fan, 55;
filigree and enamel, 56;
stick of Italian folding-fan, 117;
brisé fan, 119;
minuet fan, 120;
Venus and Adonis, 123;
Neapolitan fan, 124;
Queen of Sheba, 133;
marriage of the Dauphin with Marie-Antoinette, 167;
paper mount, 190;
mourning-fan, 194;
Cosway’s medallion fan, 195;
Dutch mounts, 198, 199;
Dutch ivory brisé fan, 200;
skin fan, 268;
French painted medallion, 269.
Wyatt, Sir M. Digby, 140, 298.
Yak, 32.
Yamato-Tosa school, 76.
Yonge, Charlotte, fan of, 273.
Yoshitsune, 72.
Zimmern, Helen, 8, note.
Zucharo, F., 104.
[Illustration]
EDINBURGH
T. and A. CONSTABLE
Printers to His Majesty
MCMX
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