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 Robert Walker in his sale catalogue (1882) suggests that these two fans, the sticks of which have perished and have been replaced by those of old English workmanship, were painted for the Duchess de la Vallière in the early time of her attendance at the court of Anne of Austria.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.

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.

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.

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:

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.

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:

The love-god, in the guise of the boy Ascanius, is presented to Dido:

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.

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 granddaughter, 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.

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.

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.

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.’

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.

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.

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.’