FANS OF THE ANCIENTS—Continued

GREECE AND ROME

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—

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 FROM AN APULIAN HYDRA.
(British Museum.) different lengths, in a semicircle: such a fan appears on a large vase in the Louvre.

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.

‘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:

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.

CHAPTER III

FANS OF THE FAR EAST

INDIA

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 CINGALESE SĒSATA (Made of the leaf of the talipot palm, enriched with plates of mica, the handle lacquered wood; length, including handle, 7 feet.) 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

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.

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.

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 (From a painting on talc. Madras. Nineteenth century.) 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

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 EMBLEM OF ROYALTY
(From an illumination of a Court reception by the King of Oudh.) 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.

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 ROYAL STANDARDS
(From a MS. copy of the Akbar-Namah. Sixteenth century.) 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.

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.

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 HAND-FAN
(From the cave paintings at Ajanta.) 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.

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, PLAITED GRASS-FAN
(From the Amaravati Tope.) 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.

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 FLAG-FAN
(From the cave paintings at Ajanta.) 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.

These fans are of two kinds—rigid and flexible; in 1. ‘TALAPAT’ FAN
2. PANKHÂ. (Embroidered velvet, with silver handle. Moorshedabad. India Museum.)
3. FROM AN ILLUMINATION 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.

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.

These fans are of two kinds—rigid and flexible; in FAN OF GOLD
(Forming portion of the Burmese Regalia. 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.

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.

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.

FANS OF THE FAR EAST—Continued

CHINA

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.

These have continued in the service of royalty to a late period. A wing-shaped example, set laterally in a red lacquered handle, appearing FROM A PAINTED ROLL OF MING DYNASTY.
(British Museum.) 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 FAN OF HSI WANG MU
(From a Japanese painting. British Museum.) 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.

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.

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

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 WHITE PLUMED FAN OF HSI WANG MU
(From a painting of the Chinese School of Japan. British Museum.) 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.

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.