A BOOK ABOUT FANS

Mm

iOOK iBOUT f ANS
THE HISTORY OF FANS AND
FAN-PAINTING

BY
M. A. FLORY

WITH
A CHAPTER ON FAN-COLLECTING
BY
MARY CADWALADER JONES

MACMILLAN AND CO.
AND LONDON
189s
-^// rights reserved

Copyright, iSgs,
By MACMILLAN AND CO.

5*16 F

KottDootr ^xtBB :
J. S, Cushing- & Co, — Berwick & Smith.
Norwood, Mass,, U,S.A.

PREFACE
The loan exhibition held at South Kensington
in 1870 gave a great impulse to the collection
and decoration of fans ; and since that time
many other exhibitions, although less important,
have allowed amateurs to admire and to draw
instruction from specimens showing the marvel
lous skill of expert workmen in this charming
art. One of these opportunities was afforded by
the New York Society of Decorative Art, which
organized a loan collection in the spring of 1882,
in order to call attention to the possibilities of
fan decoration and mounting, and since that time
the Society has continued to encourage Ameri
can decorators to rival the delightful work of
foreign artists. An interesting exhibition was
also held by the Grolier Club in 1891.
In a country where progress of astonishing
rapidity has been made in all branches of decor-

vi PREFACE
ative art, one cannot but wonder at the preva
lent indifference to fan-painting. The lack of
sources of correct information and the difficulty
of procuring the necessary materials have hitherto
paralyzed the efforts of those who desired to
attempt it; but when it becomes more generally
known that at the Society of Decorative Art all
necessary information as well as materials can be
obtained, it may be hoped that this beautiful
branch of industrial art may be established in
this country. American artists should follow the
example of French painters, and sign many a
masterpiece which will represent our own school
and era of fan-painting, in the collections already
formed, to be handed down to the future as pre
cious relics.
The modern fan is so associated with the art
of coquetry and the paraphernalia of beauty that
we scarcely realize its having a history. The
French, however, have treated the evolution of
the fan with much completeness, and in England,
brief sketches on the subject have occasionally
appeared in magazines, but thus far a history
of fans has not been published in book form.

PREFACE vii
The subject, though it may seem frivolous,
amply repays careful study, and will not fail to
interest the reader, provided the demands on both
his patience and his time are not too great. Few
persons have leisure to peruse an exhaustive vol
ume about these dainty feminine weapons, which
yet, however, cannot be thoroughly treated with
out entering somewhat into the social and artistic
history of many nations. Our manifold duties
and pleasures scarcely permit us more time for
attention to the fan than to the beautiful butter
fly which for a moment delights us by the graceful
fluttering of its painted wings. It may therefore
not be a useless undertaking to assemble some sa
lient facts, omitting many details from the abun
dant material which has been brought to light
by French and English writers. In doing this
I gratefully acknowledge the help which some
of these writings have rendered me, particularly
the " History of Fans " by S. Blondel, who has
kindly given me permission to make use of his
valuable work, highly appreciated by collectors.
Though the subject will lose somewhat in fulness
by presenting it in so small a compass, yet there

viii PREFACE
may be compensation in meeting the require
ments of those who wish to become acquainted
with the main facts without necessarily spending
much of their leisure on it.
The generosity of American and European
collectors has enabled me to give some of the
finest specimens of antique fans, while painters
and lovers of art who delight in finding efforts
to revive this beautiful art patronized, will appre
ciate even more the valuable examples painted
by modern masters, and will feel most grateful
to the owners who kindly permitted me to repro
duce them,, as the opportunities of seeing them
are very rare, the private collections in which
they are treasured not being accessible to the
public.

CONTENTS
PAGE
I. The History of the Fan . , . . . i
II. Fan Painting ........ 69
III. Fan Collecting ....... 109

ILLUSTRATIONS
Fans of the following periods and styles have been reproduced
from photographs or the originals loaned for the purpose : —
Etruscan  Vignette on title-page
After a Vase ia ihe Museum ofthe Louvre, PAGB
First Revohjtion  Headpiece 3
In the Collection ofM. Ph. de Saint-Albin.
Chinese  Facing 10
Painted Leaf and Carved Sandalwood Sticks. Owned iy
the Empress Euginie,
George III  " 34
Owned iy Mrs. Pinchot.
Late Louis XVI  " 40
Owned iy Madame Le Lasseur.
Louis XIV  " 40
Vemis Martin. Owned iy Her Majesty Queen Victoria.
Louis XV  " 48
Painted ly Boucher. Owned ly Dr. Piogey.
Loins XV., Style called "Cabriolet" ... " 48
Owned ly the Comtesse de Chamlrun.
Louis XV  " 56
Painted ly Boucher. Owned ly the late Mrs. Astor.
xi

xii ILLUSTRATIONS PAGE
Modern Mount  Facing 60
Painted ly Maurice Leloir. Owned ly Mrs. Cornelius
Vanderlilt.
Directory or Empire  " 66
Owned ly the Countess of Shaftesiury,
Modern  " 66
A Wedding Fan of the Princess of Wales. Copenhagen,
1863.
First Empire  Headpiece 71
Italian. In the Collection ofM. Ph. de Saint-Allin.
White Lace, with Mother-of-pearl Sticks . . Facing 82
Owned ly the Empress Eugenie.
Early Eighteenth Century  " 82
Dutch. Owned ly Mrs. F. R. Jones.
Late Louis XVI  " 100
Owned ty Miss Hewitt.
Modern Mount  " 100
Painted ly Vilert. Owned ly Mrs. Cornelius Vanderlilt.
Louis XVI  Headpiece 108
Owned ly the Comtesse de Chamlrun.
Old Chinese, Gold Filigree and Enamel . . Facing 112
Owned ly Mrs, Butler Duncan.
French Renaissance  " 112
Owned ly Henri III.
Italian Renaissance, Dagger Fan  " 116
Owned ly Mrs. Henry Chauncey.
Seventeenth Century  " nS
Italian. Owned ly Clarence King, Esq.

ILLUSTRATIONS xiii
PAGE
Louis XIV. Belshazzar's Feast  Facing 122
Vemis Martin. In the Lazarus Collection.
Louis XIV. Solomon and the Queen of Sheba " 122
In the Lazarus Collection.
Early Louis XV  " 128
After Laneret. Owned ly Mrs. F. S, Jones.
Early Louis XVI  " 132
Owned ly Miss Hewitt.
Louis XIV., Chinese Style  " 136
In the Lazarus Collection.
Late Louis XVI. or Early Directory .... " 136
Coloured Prints pasted on Sandalwood Sticks. Owned ly
Mrs. F. R. Jones.
A Fan attributed to Watteau  Tailpiece 141
Drawn iy M. E. Wattier,

THE HISTORY OF THE FAN

THE HISTORY OF THE FAN
Camargo.
Quoi! voire eventail? Rafael. Oui, n'est-il pas beau, ma foi?
II est large a peu pres comme tin quartier de lune,
Cousu d'or comme un paon. — Frais et jqyeux comme une
Aile de papillon. — Incertain et changeant
Comme une femme. — II a les paillettes d' argent
Comme Arlequin. — Gardei-le, il vous fera peut-etre
Penser a moi; c^est toid le portrait de son mattre.
Camargo.
Le portrait en effet ! — De Musset.
THE history of the fan is full of human senti
ment: this trifling object reveals the cus
toms, the dainty tastes, the artistic appreciation
of our ancestors ; and it is particularly interest
ing as an evidence of the patience and scrupulous
care with which artisans of past generations per
fected their work, for objects of greater importance
than the fan give scarcely better proofs of their

4 A BOOK ABOUT FANS
marvellous skill in art industry. Of all that an
epoch leaves to future generations there is nothing
that characterizes it more truly and fully —
nothing that more attracts and maintains our
interest in the past life of a people — than the
productions of its art.
The use of the fan, far from losing in prestige,
seems likely to be perpetuated into all ages. In
the hands of a clever woman, it is not only an
attractive trifle, but still an important weapon.
As Gay sings, —
" Unhappy lovers ! how will you withstand
When these new arms shall grace the charmer's hand?"
The chain of tradition, followed as far as pos
sible into the past, carries us back to the time
when the origin of the fan is derived from
legends. " King Nila's daughter," so says the great
Sanskrit poem, " Mahabharata," " had charge of
the sacred fire upon which her father's success
and glory depended. She fanned the fire, which
refused to burn. It was of no use to fan it;
for the fire was seized with love for the beautiful

THE HISTORY OF THE FAN 5
princess, and could not live but with the fanning
of her own sweet breath."
The Chinese, who claim to have invented the
fan, also trace its origin into the land of legends.
Lang-sin, the daughter of an all-powerful manda
rin, was present at a Feast of Lanterns. Over
come with the heat, she removed her mask — a
daring thing to do. She still held it near enough
to screen her features, while waving it rapidly to
and fro; and it is said that this caprice, speedily
imitated by other beauties of the court, originated
the use of the screen fan.
An old Japanese tale attributes the invention
of the folding fan to the sorrowing widow of
Atsumori, the noble youth who succumbed to
the fierce sense of duty of Kumagai Maozane.
Hiding her grief in the temple of Mieido in
Kioto, she performed as a nun the pious duty of
nursing an abbot who was devoured by a fever,
and cured him by fanning him with a folding
paper fan. To this day, the priests of Mieido
are considered particularly skilled in the manu
facture of fans; and consequently many fan shops
of the islands adopted the name Mieido.

6 A BOOK ABOUT FANS
The rivet which binds the blades or sticks of
a fan together has perhaps the most interesting
legendary origin. Kashima, one of the Japanese
gods, was charged to subdue the eastern part
of the world. He accomplished it by running
his sword straight through the earth. In the
course of time the sword hardened into stone
and was named Kanameishi, which means rivet,
and the earth being thus riveted and steadied,
the people enjoyed the sense of full security.
This rivet suggested to them, moreover, one of
the principal parts of the folding fan. Many
imaginative stories, to a few of which I have
alluded, are fully given in the charming volumes
which in these latter years have disclosed to us
the Japanese folklore.
When was the fan transformed to a thing of
ornament and beauty as well as of use ? This
is even more difficult to determine than the
time of its origin. The earliest traces of the
longing that prompts man to adorn and beautify
what he honours and prizes especially can be
noticed in the rough implements which repre
sent the first fans.

THE HISTORY OF THE FAN 7
The original shape of the fan, called in India
punkah, as represented in Hindustani bas-reliefs,
is very similar to the leaf of a palm tree, and
we may see by it that nature's lessons were
utilized in the remotest times.
The Sanskrit poet, Krishna-Dwapayana, de
scribes the couch of the monarch Pandou as
provided with a fan, a flyflap (tchaounry), the
tail of a white buffalo, and a parasol. Many
passages in the Sanskrit poems " Ramayana " and
" Mahabharata," as well as the bas-reliefs of that
era, attest that the fan, the parasol, and the
flyflap were royal attributes in ancient India
and dignified by use among the deities and
demi-deities of the Hindoo heaven. In works
on ancient monuments and art we find repro
ductions of fans in the shape of leaves attached
to long handles, which we are told are called
talapat, signifying palm-tree leaf (Fig. i). Similar
standards are still in use by the Buddhist priests
in the kingdom of Siam.
In the British Museum, the Bibliotheque
Natlonale of Paris, and also in the Louvre,
many ancient miniatures show that originally

A BOOK ABOUT FANS

fans were mostly made of feathers. Some
are merely a bunch of peacock feathers
in a handle (Fig. 2); others are more
elaborately combined in feather mosaic
(Fig. 3).
The resplendent colours of the plum
age of birds must have given great
delight to the first artistic instincts of
mankind. Not less ingenious are
the fans of different coloured
grasses and reeds, wrought into
shapes somewhat similar to a leaf
(Fig. 4). From its very begin
ning the primitive artist thus exerted his
imagination to adorn the fan ;
while the most remote literary
reminiscences of the time when
in the mind of mankind royalty and
divinity were one, show how much the
first poets were impressed by this symbol
of authority. Later, fans were made of
such precious materials as ivory, tortoise-
shell, or sandalwood, and finally of paper
Fig- 3- and other fabrics.

Fig. I.

Fig. 2.

THE HISTORY OF THE FAN

The Indian name for fan, punkah, was also
given to the huge fan or frame covered with
stuffs and worked by slaves.
This ingenious ventilator is
generally considered of modern
invention, but it, also, has a
claim to high antiquity. On
the bas-reliefs of the ruins of
Koyundjik were found proofs
that the Assyrians three thou
sand years ago had contrived
to refresh the air by artificial
breezes. Guez de Balzac, during the
reign of Louis XIV., wrote of
enormous fans in Italy suspended from the
ceilings and worked by four servants. " I have
a fan that makes wind enough in my chamber
to wreck a ship." In 1791 they were introduced
into the English residences of the East Indies,
and have since been adopted there in all public
places. An implement used in ancient times for win
nowing is mentioned under the name of fan in

Fig. 4.

10 A BOOK ABOUT FANS
the Holy Scriptures: Isaiah xxx. 24, Jeremiah
cxv. 27, and Matthew iii. 12.
A bulky monograph would be necessary to
describe the transformation of the fan in China
and Japan from a bamboo leaf to a marvel of
workmanship. The fan has an important place
in the annals of these countries from the sixth
century to our time, and the subject is interest
ing and intricate enough for the erudition of
a scholar. " A Child's Guide to Knowledge " (in Chinese)
tells that the fan was invented by the Emperor
Aseim Yuan, who came to the throne in the year
2699 B.C. Other writers, in accordance with a
piece of poetry by Lo-ki, defer its invention to the
time of the Emperor Wee-wang, the first ruler of
the Chow Dynasty, 11 06 b.c. Tcheon-li, in a work
of the eleventh century before our era, describes
fans of pheasant feathers used as ceremonial
objects in royal interments. The general cus
tom of using fans dates back to the sixth
century of our era. The poet Thou-fou in " The
Song of Autumn" mentions feather fans in the
shape of a pheasant's tail as in royal use.

o

THE HISTORY OF THE FAN ii
The folding fan is supposed to be a Japanese
invention of the seventh or eighth century a.d.,
and their God of Happiness is represented with
one in his hand. Whether it originated, accord
ing to tradition, by a sovereign's observation of
the wings of a bat, or was suggested by the
natural unfolding of the palm-tree leaf, must be
left to conjecture. Some Chinese writers men
tion the introduction of folding fans in the
year 960 a.d.
The bamboo, the palm-tree leaf, wood, leather,
paper, metal, were the materials used for the fan
until the introduction of various fabrics and
silks. Round, square, octagon, and elliptic fan-
screens were from the remotest times adorned
with embroideries, beads, curious designs, and
inscriptions. The artists of the Celestial Empire were prob
ably the originators of caligraphic and pictorial
decorations on fans. The Negroni Collection,
sold in London in 1866, included many of the
famous Album Fans so long and so greatly
popular in China. Some of these fans were sold
for ;i^900 apiece. They were richly ornamented

12 A BOOK ABOUT FANS
and covered with amorous and complimentary
inscriptions, and were supposed to have belonged
to the emperors and empresses of China. The
first fan of this sort of which we have particular
mention in Chinese poetry was that of the Prin
cess Pan, A.D. 550. The princess was for a time
the favourite of the Emperor Chi'eng Si of the
Ham Dynasty. Finding her star on the wane,
she sent him a circular fan on which she had
written verses describing herself as an Autumn
or neglected Fan. Ever since in China a neg
lected wife is called an Autumn Fan.
In Japan there is a special kind of fan for
every usage; as the court fan, the kitchen or
water fan, the fan to be used as bellows, the
dancing fan, the tea fan, the war fan, and so
forth. Each variety is an interesting subject of
study, both as regards the customs and the in
dustrial achievements of the country. The war
fan as used in ancient times was made of leather,
with an iron handle of considerable length and
weight. It served to give directions to the army,
and also was a formidable weapon. Some of
them had blades of metal, and thus were useful

THE HISTORY OF THE FAN 13
as shields. Autograph fans, album fans, fans with
maps and advertisements, almost every kind of
souvenir fan with views and scenes of daily life,
originated in China or Japan.
Both in ancient and modern times important
fans have been embellished by the leading artists,
poets, and caligraphers of their countries. This
is attested by their wonderful carvings in ivory,
shell, mother-of-pearl, and various kinds of precious
wood, and by their works in fine metal inlaid with
gold and silver. Not less admirable are the tex
tures and embroideries. The figures are sometimes
wrought in silk embroidery, the faces carved in
ivory. The fans on which mica is applied in
powder or in flakes have a most brilliant glisten
ing effect, while some are entirely in the inimitable
Chinese lacquer decorated with beaten gold and
silver. The subjects of the paintings applied to fan
decoration are most generous in their variety,
whether suggested by the endless pictures copied
from nature, or created by the marvellous imagina
tion of the artist. Sprays of grass, supple wreaths
of flowers, insects, or birds, the play of fantastic

14 A BOOK ABOUT FANS
curves and lines, — all have the living motion
and truth obtained by an attentive observation
of nature. The exuberance of the artists' imagi
nation in representing fantastic animals, curious
figures, mythological gods, is surprising and charm
ing. Their methods of grouping lines, of seizing
combinations of glowing colours, are delightful and
instructive lessons. We can also easily appreciate
their keen sense of the humorous, while the
symbolism of their subjects is not always obvious
to those who have not studied the social and
religious history of these countries. Precious
material and labour have at all times been lav
ished on these works of art, which are handed
down from one generation to another with all
the reverence for what is old which characterizes
the East.
In China and Japan the common Buddhist
influence makes the artistic productions of the
two countries very similar, and deepens the
general impression that art in Japan is merely
an imitation of Chinese creations. The Japanese
fans are in many respects superior to the Chinese ;
and the taste of the Japanese artists, the greatest

THE HISTORY OF THE FAN 15
decorators in the world, is more refined by an
ardent and close study of nature.
In both these countries the practical uses of
the fan are similar. It is an indispensable weapon
against the swarms of insects and the heat of
the climate. This explains its endless varieties
of form, and its importance in the historic life
of the people. We know by the record of
their customs that the fan is not, as it is with
us, a mere appendage of feminine costume.
Prince and nobleman, priest and sage, the
soldier, the labourer, the mistress, the maid, even
little children, carry the fan both for the sake
of coolness and also for ceremonial purposes,
observing strictly the etiquette of its usages in
accordance with an established code. The fan
has become a part of the national costume and
life. It is used for salutation in the street;
mothers wave it to make their babies sleep,
while labourers work with one hand and fan
themselves with the other. Soldiers are not
above carrying fans, and generals use them to
direct actions.
The ways in which Japanese beauties avail

1 6 A BOOK ABOUT FANS
themselves of the fan are various and at the
same time so similar to those of our young
ladies that it is not necessary to describe them
in detail. We learn, however, that under the
irresistible influence of Western manners the
observance of proper etiquette as to their han
dling commences to be disregarded. Although
the custom of carrying fans is not diminished,
critics inform us that high art in Japan has
entered the period of decline in this branch as
in others, since constant communication with
Europe has been established. Fans decorated
with the utmost delicacy of artistic feeling for
the use of noble ladies grow scarce; the demand
for those worked in precious metals has almost
died out; while cheaper productions, on the other
hand, provide the whole civilized world with use
ful and still elegant specimens, produced at prices
with which no other nation can compete. The
manufacture of commonplace articles is thus
encouraged by the growing demand, but the
artist is inevitably sacrificed.
In ancient Egypt the fan was a royal emblem
of authority, happiness, and repose. The fan or

THE HISTORY OF THE FAN

17

flabellum bearer, generally of royal birth, held
dignified service about the person of the mon
arch, and was inducted into office with great
ceremony, as we can see by the silent testimony
of painting and sculpture. The fan-bearers of

Fig. j.

Fig. 6.

Rameses the Great, thirteen hundred years b.c,
are represented in the frescoes which adorn the
Palace of Medinet-Abou at Thebes as twenty-
three sons of the Pharaoh, each carrying a semi
circular screen attached to a long handle or staff

i8 A BOOK ABOUT FANS
(Fig. 5). More elaborate are the designs of the
screens on the frescoes representing the Triumph
of Horus (Fig. 6).
The Museum of Boulak has a flabellum of the
same epoch (1657 b.c). The wood is pierced all
around with holes, in which the ostrich plumes
were set, and still bears traces of gilding and
rough carving. Artists and poets inspired by
Cleopatra always represent the beautiful sovereign
of Egypt surrounded by those standards of ostrich
feathers which added splendour to every religious
and secular pageant.
Upon Assyrian sculptures also is traced a page
of the history of the fan. The British Museum
has a slab of the reign of Assur-Nissapal, king
of Assyria, 880-860 B.C., representing attendants
fanning the monarch. On another bas-relief at
Nimroud a slave is waving a fan to cool the
liquid in a vase.
According to Xenophon, and the descriptions
by some explorers of the bas-reliefs of Persepolis,
the Persians and Medes considered the fan, the
flyflap, and the parasol as royal attributes.
In the first centuries of our era the Arabs

THE HISTORY OF THE FAN 19
adopted the use of the fan and soon gave it the
poetical, sentimental, and sarcastic character of
the script fan of the Chinese. In the " Thousand
and One Nights" the youth, who was half flesh,.
half monumental marble, tells that he was fanned
while awaiting his wife's return. Abou-Hassan,
in the "Sleeper Awakened," is fanned by seven
beautiful women. From these records it is con
cluded that the fan must have been in general
use by women at the time when these fantastic
stories were composed.
The fan was a symbol of authority in Mexico
before the Spanish conquest. Ometeuctli, the
God of Paradise of the Tolteques, and Totec, the
military disciple of the founder of the Mexican
monarchy, were represented holding a flabellum
of feathers in their hands. Contemporaries of
Cortez relate in their writings that costly flyflaps
of feathers with handles encrusted with precious
stones, named tleoatzehuaquetzalli, were given as
diplomatic presents. In the Hawaiian Islands,
from the most ancient times to the present day,
costly kahilis or flyflaps have been the especial
insignia of royal authority.

30 A BOOK ABOUT FANS
The fan reached Greece from Asia Minor,
probably through commercial intercourse with
the Phoenicians and Phrygians. Greek vases
show women in graceful positions holding leaves
consecrated to Venus. Whenever these leaves
have a triangular form, they may be considered,
according to Winckelmann, as the first fans in
imitation of leaves. The Greek ladies, however,
had always a preference for fans of peacock
feathers, the peacock, as the bird of Juno, being
the symbol of refinement, splendour, and luxury.
Euripides alluded undoubtedly to a fan of this
kind, when in " Orestes " the Phrygian slave pro
nounces the words, " I fanned Helen's cheeks
and airy curls with a winged fan of round and
graceful shape."
Etruscan artists carried the improvement of
the peacock fan to its highest perfection. The
importance attached to the fan in Southern Italy
is attested by Virgil, Ovid, Longinus, LucuUus,
Propertius, — Homer and Anacreon being the only
authors who do not refer in their writings to
the flabellum.
As the aspirations of the Romans tended

THE HISTORY OF THE FAN 21
chiefly towards military conquests, the develop
ment of art industry which enriches the life of
peace-loving nations was never successfully at
tempted. The fan underwent, therefore, no notice
able improvement during the Roman Empire,
but was used, as by earlier nations, to heighten
the pomp and splendour of their festivals. At
ceremonial banquets slaves stood behind the
guests, waving enormous fans painted in brilliant
colours, or of peacock and ostrich feathers of
graduated length, in the shape of a disk or a
half-circle. No patrician went out without her
fan-bearer, called " flabellifer," carrying a fan
which was attached to a long handle, so that
no high-born lady could be suspected of ever
fanning herself. At the same time a smaller
kind of scented wood or ivory (tabella) were
used by the gallants to fan ladies, if we may
judge from Ovid's words ("Amorum," Liber III.,
Elegia 2): —
" Wouldst thou invite the gentle air meanwhile,
Which, moving in my hand, this tablet makes ? "
From a symbol of royalty the fan had gradu
ally become a necessary appendage of the rich

22 A BOOK ABOUT FANS
and high born. The custom, however, coming
down from the most ancient times, of applying
it to liturgic rites in keeping alive the sacred
fire, or in offering sacrifices, survived and was
adapted to the ceremonies of the first Christian
Church. Abbe Martigny, author of the Diction
ary of Christian Antiquities, speaks of Syrian
monks as employing their time in making fans,
and presumes that St. Jerome in the desert of
Chalcis, and St. Fulgence, bishop of Ruspina,
wrought upon fans for the service of the altar.
From the first centuries of Christianity they
were considered necessary to the celebration of
the holy mysteries, both in giving the officiating
priest relief from the heat, and in driving the flies
from the Eucharistic bread and wine. In the
" Coutumes de Cluny " is found the following
mention : " Flabellum factum de serico et auro
ad repellandos muscos et immunda," proving that
the custom was adopted by the Latin Church.
These flabella were of feathers, palm leaves, or
fine parchment. Those used in the Greek Church
were fastened to a wooden staff, or had the shape
of a cherub with six wings, while those of the

THE HISTORY OF THE FAN 23
Maronites and Armenians were circular, covered
with strips of metal, and bordered with little bells.
Rare specimens of this kind are still in existence.
One of them is a flabellum from the Abbey of
St. Filibert de Turnus; another, said to be of the
fifteenth century, belonging formerly to the Char-
set collection, at the recent sale of the Spitzer
collection brought the price of $5020. The old
est fan of the kind used in religious ceremonies
was long supposed to be of the sixth century,
and to have belonged to Theodolinda, Queen
of the Lombards, the pious friend of St. Gregory.
This fan is now considered to be of the tenth
or eleventh century, and is preserved in the
Cathedral of Monza near Milan, where it is an
object of superstition and pilgrimage with young
peasants who wish to marry. It is of leather,
folding upon itself like a screen, and is decorated
with gilding and with almost obliterated Latin
inscriptions. When the use of wine in the Holy Communion
was discontinued, about the fourteenth century,
the flabellum ceased to be employed in the com
munion celebration, but remained an impressive

24 A BOOK ABOUT FANS
feature in public solemnities. During the time
of Gregory VII., it was carried in grand relig
ious processions, but only waved when the Pope
sat still, his action when he moved being sup
posed sufficient to scatter the evil spirits. The
flabellum is said to be still in use in the Greek
and Armenian church ceremonies.
Writers differ somewhat about the time when
the fan became in France "that engine of magic
charms," the origin of which poets have sought
both in Eden and Olympus. About the four
teenth century it must have been in general
use, as various court inventories mention it under
the name of esmouchoir.
Miniatures of the same time represent ladies
with long-handled round fans, made of feathers
or rice-straw, similar to those still made in Tunis
and Algiers. The inventory of Charles V. of
France, made in 1380, contains the mention of
a folding fan, made of ivory with an ebony handle,
and bearing the arms of France and Navarre. It
is from the same source that we learn that the
Roman custom of employing servants to fan the
king when at table, still prevailed at that time.

THE HISTORY OF THE FAN 25
The fan soon came to be considered an indispen
sable part of the costume of high-born dames,
and reflected the costliness of their dress. Gold
and silver laces, brilliant feathers, elaborate em
broideries, and all that the jeweller of the day
could contrive, was expended on this trinket.
Queen Eleanore's fan, as described by Brantome
in his "Vies des Dames lUustres " (1590), was
inlaid with precious stones. Another presented
by Queen Marguerite to Queen Louise of Lor
raine surpassed all that are mentioned of that
time in beauty and costliness ; its value of 1 200
crowns has been estimated to represent about
$5000 in our day.
Catharine de Medicis brought the Italian round
screen fan into France. This innovation, manu
factured and sold by perfumers who had followed
the queen to France, was greatly appreciated.
When the luxurious Florentine became a widow,
she manifested her grief and her divorce from
the world by surrounding her personal device
or emblem with broken mirrors, plumes, and
fans. Henri III., says Pierre de I'Estoile, found
the fan as indispensable as any beauty of his

26 A BOOK ABOUT FANS
time. The fan which the king used could be
unfurled by a single motion of the hand, was
large enough to protect his delicate complexion
from the ardour of the sun, and was carried even
when going to the chase. Another writer of
this period relates that fans were used in winter
as well, to screen ladies from the heat of the
fire. Among the verses which from that time extol
the fan in French poetry, we must at least give
a few lines, among the most beautiful of the
earlier ones, written by Remy Belleau in 1572: —
"Ne pensez ce present nouveau
Estre fait de plumes d'oiseau;
Amour, de ses plumes I^gferes
L'a fait pour ne voler jamais,
Laissant en vos mains desormais
Toutes ses ailes prisonni^res,"
and which may be rendered : —
"Think not that my late gift is but a feather
Plucked of a bird ! Love, of his lightest plumes
(That ne'er shall fiy again) bound it together —
Your hands henceforth imprison all his wings."
The fashion of carrying fans was adopted in
Italy, Spain, and Portugal at about the same

THE HISTORY OF THE FAN

27

time as in France, feather and skin screens, the
latter much esteemed for their strong perfume,
being used and exported until the Japanese and
Chinese pleated fan was introduced into Europe
about 1590. Ladies of rank in Milan, Florence,
Naples, or Padua, according to records of the
fifteenth and sixteenth centuries, wore feather fans
in which sometimes a little mirror was set. The
workmanship of the handles was as elaborate as that
of the gold and silver chains by which
they were suspended. A curious fan
known as the flag, key, or weather-
vane, is well known by the painting
called " Titian's Wife," in the Dresden
Gallery. It was carried by the mar
ried women, and for a time was in
great favour in Venice and Padua.
The same fan, but of a dazzling white,
v/as worn by betrothed girls. The
only specimen now known to exist is
in the collection of Madame Achille
Jubinal. It is made of parchment, cut
into open work, and trimmed with Venetian lace
of the sixteenth century.

Fig. 7.

28 A BOOK ABOUT FANS
The earliest records of the fan in England date
from 1307. In the inventory of Isabella of France,
daughter of Philippe le Bel, who became queen
of England as the wife of Edward II., mention
is made of " Duo flagella pro muscis fugandis."
During the reign of Henry VIII. two styles of
fans were in use, one for full dress, the other
for walking. The latter was very large, with a
handle half a yard long, and served also as a
parasol to shelter the bearer from the heat of
the sun. Queen Mary received among her gifts
on New Year's Day, 1556, "seven fannes to keep
the hete of the fyer, of strawe thon [the one] of
white silk." Queen Elizabeth favoured the cus
tom that a fan should be the only present which
a sovereign should receive from her subjects.
The twenty-seven fans enumerated in the inven
tory of her wardrobe at her death in 1660 may
thus be considered as so many offerings made by
her courtiers. Sir Francis Drake gave her one
of white and red feathers, the gold handle enam
elled with a half moon enriched with diamonds
and pearls, forming a jewelled frame for a portrait
of herself. Another gift was of swansdown with

THE HISTORY OF THE FAN 29
a maze of green velvet embroidered with pearls,
rubies, and emeralds; the handle in the shape
of a golden monster with head and breast of
mother-of-pearl. One of the Royal Vestal's fans
is said to have been valued at ;^400 — an enor
mous price for that time. Leicester's present to
her is described as of white feathers, the gold
handle, thickly jewelled, bearing a lion rampant
with a muzzled white bear beneath his foot. On
New Year's Day, 1579, she received a gift of "two
fannes of straw wrought with silke of sundry
colors." In a portrait of Elizabeth upon a map
of England painted about 1592, she wears a fan
of the modern shape hung from her waist by
pink ribbons; and another at Gorhambury shows
her holding a fan of extremely small size.
Shakespeare mentions the fan in many of his
immortal lines. It appears in the " Merry Wives
of Windsor," in "Othello," in "Love's Labour's
Lost," in "Macbeth," in "A Midsummer Night's
Dream," in " Antony and Cleopatra," and in " The
Taming of the Shrew" — quite often enough to
prove that the " Virgin Queen " had not the ex
clusive use of this " sceptre and shield of beauty."

30 A BOOK ABOUT FANS
Gosson, in his " Pleasant Quippes for Upstart
Gentlewomen," 1598, remarks: —
" Were fannes and flappes of feather fond
To flit away the frisking flies,
As tails of mare that hangs on ground
When heat of summer doth arise,
The wit of woman 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 colde, in heate, in dry, in weet,
I judge they are for wives such tooles
As babies are in playes for fooles."
Even in burly England fans were not given
over exclusively to feminine use. Evidences of
this abound in the writings of that time: for
instance, Hall's "Satires" (1598) describe dandies
chalking their faces and peering into glasses,
" Tir'd with pinn'd ruffs and fans." In 161 7
Green wrote : " We strive to be accounted wom
anish by keeping of beauty, by curling of hair,
by plumes of feathers in our hands which in war
our ancestors wore on their heads." Shakes
peare alludes to this effeminate fashion as " those
remnants of fool and feather that they have got

THE HISTORY OF THE FAN 31
from France." Sir Edward Coke, Lord Chief
Justice, is said to have used a rod or wand
with a huge fan while on circuit, and the Earl
of Manchester also had one. Aubrey mentions
them in his notes on the fashions in the early
part of the seventeenth century. " The gentle
men had prodigious fans and they had handles
at least half a yard long, with these their daughters
were oftentimes corrected."
Anne of Denmark, wife of James First of Eng
land, is portrayed with the enormous artificial
hips which were formed by the grotesque far
thingale. Upon one hip rests the long handle
of a feather fan, the end rising over her shoulder
quite in the manner of an antique flabellum. In
another portrait we see her holding a fan in the
shape of a bird's wing, resembling much the
common household utensil with which Italian
peasants, to this day, fan the fire.
Henceforth the use of fans spread rapidly
throughout Europe, and although the chief seat
of their manufacture was always in France,
towards the latter half of the seventeenth century
there was a considerable trade established in

32 A BOOK ABOUT FANS
England. Mr. Redgrave, in his catalogue of the
loan collection at South Kensington in 1870,
mentions a petition to the House of Commons,
entitled "The Fann-makers' grievance, by the
importation of Fanns from the East Indies."
"That the manufactures of Fanns and Fann-
sticks, though it may seem slight to some, is
certainly at this time of very great consequence
to a very considerable branch of the trade of
England, for that it employs multitudes of men,
women, and children, in making the sticks, papers,
leathers, in ordering the silk (which paper, leather,
and silk is manufactur'd in this nation); likewise
great numbers employ'd in painting, varnishing,
and japanning; and further until there be put
a stop to the importation of Indian Fanns and
Fann-sticks, of which it can be proved that
550,000 have lately been brought over, great
numbers of poor people, continually employed in
the work, must otherwise inevitably perish." As a
result of this, in the twelfth year of Charles II.'s
reign a protective duty of forty shillings a dozen
was placed upon imported fans ; and if they were
painted, their importation was forbidden. After

THE HISTORY OF THE FAN 33
the revocation of the Edict of Nantes, in 1685,
many French fan-makers sought refuge in Lon
don, and introduced their industry there. Under
Queen Anne, however, the London manufacturers
obtained a charter of incorporation, and there
after the trade of fans within the city was limited
to members of the corporation.
In the early part of the eighteenth century the
fan was generally in use among ladies of the
middle classes. The London Magazine, in 1744,
mentions fans two feet wide, and the writer re
marks that by using them " a lady will soon screen
herself and her family against all the inclem
encies of the weather." In the Spectator, Addi
son wrote his well-known and amusing satire:
" Women are armed with fans as men with swords,
and sometimes do more execution with them.
To the end, therefore, that ladies may be entire
mistresses of the weapon which they bear, I have
erected an Academy for the training up of young
women in the exercise of the fan, according to
the most fashionable airs and motions that are
now practised at court. The ladies who carry
fans under me are exercised by the following

34 A BOOK ABOUT FANS
words of command: Handle your fans. Unfurl
your fans. Discharge your fans, Ground your
fans. Recover your fans. Flutter your fans. By
the right observation of the few plain words of
command, a woman of tolerable genius who will
apply herself diligently to her exercise for the
space of but one year shall be able to give her
fan all the graces that can possibly enter into
that modish little machine." He continues:
" There is an infinite variety of motions to be
made use of in the flutter of a fan. There is the
angry flutter, the modern flutter, the modest
flutter, the timorous flutter, the merry flutter, and
the amorous flutter. There is scarce any emo
tion in the mind which does not produce a suita
ble agitation in the fan — insomuch that if I only
see the fan of a disciplined lady, I know 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 languishing, that I have been glad, for
the lady's sake, that the lover was at a certain
distance from it." In Addison's day the cost of

GEORGE iii. Owned by MRS, PINCHOT.

THE HISTORY OF THE FAN 33
this "modish little machine" was not a little
matter. Did not Sir Roger de Coverley consider
the profits of a windmill none too large to be set
apart for the fans of the future Lady de
Coverley ?
We can scarcely imagine the rouged and pow
dered beauty of the eighteenth century without
this fascinating trinket in her hand. Both in
England and in France it had gradually become
the mirror of the life and pleasures of the time.
Political and social events, literature, music, the
fashions and follies of the day, were depicted
upon them. When " Gulliver's Travels " appeared,
all its principal events were represented on fans.
Some were covered with words and bars from
operas or with scenes from popular plays; others
bore the rules of various games within decora
tive borders of playing-cards. There were calen
dar fans, fortune-telling fans, fans with riddles,
charades, programmes, political and social carica
tures. The large and remarkable collection of
Lady Charlotte Schreiber contains many records
of that period, as royal marriages, christenings
and deaths, the Peninsular War, the agitation

36 A BOOK ABOUT FANS
caused by the Excise Bill, the separation of
America from England, etc. " Malbrouck s'en va-
t'en guerre," caricatures upon the bad manners
of the time, counsels of the " Lady's Adviser,
Physician and Moralist," are some of the humor
ous subjects of her collection. Ladies contrived
even to improve the service of the Church by
the use of the fan, making it appropriate by cov
ering it with portraits of popular preachers,
verses and illustrations from the Bible.
Quaint fans of these various kinds are found
in great numbers in many collections, whereas
really good artistic specimens of English manufact
ure are rare. The fan records the social and intel
lectual influences which have produced it ; indeed, it
almost defines what the artistic productions of a
nation were at a given period. In England the
enjoyments and refinements which commerce and
trade alone cannot give, have been sought but
recently in art, and the lack of artistic merit in
their early fan production is therefore not surpris
ing. But if English artists have not contributed
in a great measure to beautify this " modish trifle,"
we owe to English poets the most charming

THE HISTORY OF THE FAN 37
verses upon the theme. Gay, in his beautiful
poem, "The Fan," invokes the Muses: —
"Assist, ye Nine! Your loftiest notes employ —
Say what celestial skill contrived the toy —
Say how the instrument of love began :
And in immortal strains display the Fan."
To give here some of the many passages
referring to the fan by Shakespeare, Pope, Cow
per, would be a pleasant task, but space allows
us only to quote a few lines from the " Art of
Dancing " by Soame Jenyn : —
"What daring Bard shall e'er to tell attempt
The powers that in this little engine dwell?
What verse can e'er explain its various parts,
Its num'rous uses, motions, charms and arts?
Its shake triumphant, its virtuous clap,
Its angry flutter, and its wanton tap."
To trace the artistic evolution of the modern
fan, our attention is inevitably turned to France,
where the labours of skilled workmen, directed
by artists of talent, soon brought industrial art
to a high degree of perfection and gradually led
the surrounding countries to recognize in her
the acknowledged arbiter of taste. In this par
ticular branch the English poet Gay, already

38

A BOOK ABOUT FANS

quoted, renders her graceful homage in the
following lines : —
"Gay France shall make the fan her artists' care,
And with the costly trinket arm the fair."

In the time of
was in general use.

Henri IV. the folding fan
A body of workmen called
themselves Fan-makers, and
claimed of his Majesty the
exclusive right of manufact
ure; while dealers as well
as other corporations of
artisans opposed their pre
tension to the rank of a
distinct corporation. These
hostilities prevailed during
the reign of Louis XIII. and
prejudiced the development of this industry. The
rights of the existing corporation were abolished
in 1664, but only for a short time, as in 1678
Louis XIV. restored them, and further confirmed
the establishment of a Fan-maker's Guild. In
the time of Louis XIII. the fan opened to a full
half-circle, and the suppleness of silk and vellum

THE HISTORY OF THE FAN 39
allowed the most elaborate and delicate decorations,
as we can see by a rare specimen from that time,
in the collection of Madame Achille Jubinal,
which, as regards composition and treatment, is of
the highest order. The subject represents the king,
Louis XIII., playing at hide-and-seek with the
four quarters of the globe.
D'Alembert, in his "Reflections and Anecdotes
of Christina, Queen of Sweden," relates that
the haughty and irascible daughter of Gustavus,
Adolphus was at the Court of Louis XIV.
when the fashion of wearing fans became gen
eral. Some ladies of rank not knowing the
aversion of the sovereign for everything pertain
ing to female attire, asked her if they should
adopt the fashion of carrying fans even in winter.
The queen of Sweden replied to this politeness
by her wonted rudeness. " I do not think so —
you have airs enough without them." M. Blon
del remarks that the French ladies revenged them
selves for this gratuitous insult by deciding to
carry the fan in all seasons. During the reign
of Louis XIV. fan decoration was carried on
with the princely munificence that characterizes

40 A BOOK ABOUT FANS
this epoch. After the commercial distress caused
by the revocation of the Edict of Nantes and
the wars in 1696 and 1707 was over, the fan
trade revived again, to achieve its highest de
velopment, both in an artistic and a commercial
point of view. The export of cheap fans, accord
ing to the commercial records of that time, was
considerable. Scenes and whims of polite society, or events
of the day, were represented on these, which were
inexpensive. The different styles enumerated as
in use in England were either directly imported
or were adopted from French ideas and designs
by French workmen who had found a refuge
there. Ivory, mother-of-pearl, tortoise-shell, were
elaborately carved, enriched with silver, gold, and
enamel, and set with precious stones to frame
paintings by artists of renown. Some fans of
that time are attributed to Charles Lebrun, Phi
lippe de Champaigne, Mignard, and Lemoine.
The lorgnette fan of the same period had open
spaces between the decorations, in which glasses
were inserted, enabling the ladies to see all they
wished without betraying an undignified curi-

LATE LOUIS XVI. Owned by MADAME LE LASSEUR.

LOUIS XIV. VERNiS MARTIN. Owned by H. M, QUEEN ViCTORiA.

THE HISTORY OF THE FAN 41
osity. Some of them were provided at the rivet
with an imperceptible lorgnette to further extend
the view.
Another variety, called "eventail brise," be
longing to the latter part of the reign of Louis
XIV,, was manufactured after imported Chinese
models of lacquered wood and metals. The over
lapping blades of wood, bone, shell, ivory or
mother-of-pearl, of which they consisted, held
together by a narrow ribbon, were decorated with
paintings or cut in fret work and engraved.
Fan decoration of this time and during the
first part of the reign of Louis XV. was greatly
improved by the celebrated "vernis Martin." An
ingenious coach painter of that name had suc
ceeded in discovering a varnish which equalled
the translucent, enamel-like varnish of China and
Japan. It is supposed that he was skilled in all
the decorations then lavished upon carriage panels,
and that he probably applied his talent to fan
decoration as painters engaged in the same pro
fession often did, Mr. Redgrave holds that
Martin only varnished the fans, while others
believe that he collaborated with painters from

42 A BOOK ABOUT FANS
the Low Countries and with French artists, — all
of them unknown except Huet, who painted the
centre pieces with exquisite finish and brilliancy
of colour. Novel compositions, particularly suit
able for the decoration of the eventail brise, are
noted on some of the vernis Martin fans. One
now in the collection of the Countess Duchatel
is particularly interesting, as having been men
tioned in one of the letters of Madame de Sevigne
to her daughter, Madame de Grignan. This fan is
of ivory, decorated with a charming painting rep
resenting Madame de Montespan as Venus, sur
rounded by nymphs assisting at her toilet. An
interesting specimen belongs to her Majesty,
the queen of England, It is to be regretted that
the inventor did not transmit his secret to his
pupils or assistants, as they failed in attempting
to continue his method, which was so renowned
that even Voltaire mentions it : —
"courant de belle en belle,
Sous des lambris dor^s et vemis par Martin."
Fans, which had become gradually very large,
grew smaller and more modest under Madame de
Maintenon's reign, which seems to bear out one

THE HISTORY OF THE FAN 43
writer's verdict that " they are really a scampish
lot, huge for intrigues and flirtations, unnecessary
for piety and devotion." Many anecdotes of the
court life of that time could be given, but their
essence is in the following verses by Merard Saint-
Jus te : —
" Dans les temps recuMs, comme aux siecles oil nous sommes,
Les rois, le sceptre en main, commandferent aux hommes
L'6ventail, plus puissant, commande meme aux rois."
"In olden time, as in our present day.
The sceptre in kings' hands o'er men held sway —
Mightier the fan, which even kings obey ! "
The remarkable productions of Chinese and
Japanese workmanship which had been much
appreciated since the seventeenth century, and
imitated in England, Holland, and France, came
in the eighteenth century into more general
demand. An article of the " Encyclopedie Metho-
dique " on this art industry mentions that in the
latter part of the eighteenth century the finest
leaves were mounted on sticks imported from
China, Many curious specimens show these com
binations of French and Chinese workmanship.
The French manufacture of sticks was evidently

44 A BOOK ABOUT FANS
greatly improved by the richness and delicacy of
Chinese examples. Mr. Natalis Rondot, speaking
of the carvings of the time of Louis XV., says
that although they cannot properly be called
works of art, they are most remarkable, and as
regards taste and delicacy, have never been sur
passed. The sticks, which were broad and over
lapping during the reign of Louis XIV,, gradually
became narrower, spreading out separately instead
of in a solid sheet, many of the designs forming
medallions. The leaf, still of vellum, silk, or mus
lin, was divided into panels, intertwined with
wreaths and studded with spangles. Patronized
by royalty, as well as by the extravagance of
princes and noblemen, marvellous x^arvings com
bined with painting by superior artists brought
the fan to its utmost perfection. The great prog
ress in this branch is also undoubtedly due to the
influence of the celebrated Marquise de Pompa
dour, who protected art in all its branches, and this
one particularly, to judge from the charming speci
mens that are supposed to have belonged to her.
There is little doubt that Raymond de La-
fage, Stella, and later Boucher, Watteau, Lan-

THE HISTORY OF THE FAN 45
cret, Greuze, and other great artists painted their
charming pastorals, idyls, fetes-champetres, and
Cupids sometimes on fans; but how many of the
subjects attributed to their brush are authentic
is a difficult matter even for eminent art critics to
decide. Young, needy artists, skilful but un
known, led by the demand of fashion to imitate
the style originated by artists of renown, have
probably painted most of the fine specimens
attributed to great painters,
Thore, in one of his "Salons," says that Boucher,
who improvised in a morning a dozen pastorals
(for over-doors), rested himself sometimes by work
ing on small gouache paintings so finely finished
that the help of a microscope was needed for
their details, Mr, Paul Mantz, describing the
masterly treatment of a fan belonging to the
collection of Dr, Piogey, now in the Kensington
Museum, remarks that if Boucher ever painted a
fan, it must be this one. In the Louvre Museum
are two compositions by Raymond de Lafage.
A fan signed by Watteau belonged to the Bruzard
collection, numbering four hundred specimens,
which was sold in 1861,

46 A BOOK ABOUT FANS
One of the most remarkable fans of this time,
supposed to be of Italian origin, and now in the
possession of Madame Achille Jubinal, once be
longed to the Marquise de Pompadour, Only
the leaf is preserved, and we can judge from it
what the value of the handle must have been.
It is divided into five sections, in each of which
a miniature painting is inserted. The border is
decorated with two rows of small medallions, the
exquisite finish of which can only fully be appre
ciated through a magnifying glass.
Admiration for some of these marvellous fans
must have suggested to Balzac the passage in
" Cousin Pons," which all who have read this mas
terpiece will recollect with pleasure, " It is high
time that having served vice, this fan should now
be in the hands of virtue. It has taken a hun
dred years to bring about such a miracle. You
may be sure that no royal princess has anything
comparable to this treasure; for, unfortunately,
human nature is so constituted that it will do
more for a Madame de Pompadour than for a
virtuous queen,"
These fairy-like creations stir our sense of

THE HISTORY OF THE FAN 47
wonder and admiration for the ardent love of
perfection in work which in olden times seemed
not too dearly attained by spending the best part
of a lifetime on a single object.
Specimens from the reign of Louis XVI. do
not surpass in richness those just mentioned.
But the reaction in art decorations from the style
of Louis XV., which is more famous for its opu
lence than for its taste, had a favourable influ
ence also on fan decoration. Many of the relics
of the unfortunate Queen Marie Antoinette, now
treasured with reverence in museums or private
collections, show admirable workmanship. One
of these, in the possession of Mr. Thiac, was
presented by the city of Dieppe, always of high
repute for its ivory carvings, as a congratulatory
offering to the queen on the birth of the dau
phin in 1785, It is of the style called brise,
consisting of ivory blades decorated with figures
and ornaments designed by Vien ; the carving
is attributed to Le Flamand. Some fans of the
same kind, presented by the queen to her friends
as keepsakes, are preserved, one in the Louvre,
others in private collections.

48 A BOOK ABOUT FANS
Cartouches, pastorals, cupids, emblems, graceful
festoons and wreaths of flowers were delicately
painted in gouache, mostly on silk and gauze. In
some specimens the symmetric divisions of the
leaf was avoided, to allow the painter greater
freedom ; in others, panels and medallions in the
shape that characterizes the style of Louis XV,
are maintained, interlaced by wreaths and en
riched by spangles of divers colours. The pure
Louis XVI. style needs to be looked for on speci
mens of value, the designing of which was en
trusted to artists. Those fans whose only merit
is to be antique are sometimes combinations
of different styles, as in all inexpensive articles
subject to the caprice of fashion. Thus in every
period, when the fashions changed, the handles
already in stock were more easily sold when
mounted with leaves painted in the style of the
new fashion. Sticks in the style of Louis XVI.
were usually narrow, delicately carved and some
times coloured to match the light material, the
simpler and more delicate style of decoration,
A few exceptional fans were painted by some
of the great artists of the time, but the greater

LOUIS XV Painted by BOUCHER. Owned by DR, PIOGEY.

LOUIS XV., style called "CABRIOLET". Owned by the COMTESSE DE CHAMBRUN.

THE HISTORY OF THE FAN 49
part of the many marriage-fans of the lovely
daughter of Maria Theresa show that the gay
and glittering effect of spangle decoration was the
style which mostly appealed to the taste of the
time, A fan called Cabriolet or eventail a galerie,
was then as much appreciated as in the time
of Louis XV. The single leaf was replaced by
two or three rows of material between which
some space was left open. These narrow bands
were usually decorated with allegorical, satirical,
and comical subjects which reflected the light-
hearted mood of society before the sombre days
of the Revolution began.
The fan, adapting itself always to new exi
gencies, then appeared bearing devices, rather than
decorations, in accordance with republican ideas
— as figures of Liberty, triangles, the letters R,
F,, for Republique Fran9aise, Phrygian caps, or
representing some event of the day, such as the
Festival of Reason, or funerals of the clergy.
The collection of the queen of England con
tains a fan with a design representing the
National Assembly, and on the reverse of it is

so A BOOK ABOUT FANS
a statistical account of the Fixed Revenue and
Expenses of the year 1789. Ideal subjects being
entirely abandoned, the ladies attempted for a
time to preserve at least rich material for this
inoffensive weapon. But the disappearance of
allegories, rustic scenes, idyls, fetes-champltres,
cupids, and roses did not sufficiently appease
fierce patriots. Silk, gauze, and spangles were
suspicious materials, being the last vestiges of
the aristocratic taste ; consequently they had to
give way to coarse materials and paper, printed
with devices such as " Mort ou Liberte " and
" Vive la Nation " ; or they were covered with
assignats and portraits of popular men, — Mirabeau,
Lepelletier, Marat, or Barras. Even tragic scenes
were not considered inappropriate. The fan a
la Marat represents Charlotte Corday carrying
her fan in one hand while with the other she
deals the citizen Marat his death blow. M, Vatel,
in his writings on Charlotte Corday, says one
of the witnesses at her trial maintained that she
did not relinquish her fan when she stabbed
Marat. We see by the specimens in French and English

THE HISTORY OF THE FAN 51
collections that the fan records almost every phase
of this dark period, during which thousands of its
makers had to join in the desperate cry of all the
skilled workmen, "Je perds mon etat, faites-moi
vivre." But the fan revived, spangled and scented, at the
balls of the jeunesse doree and the fetes presided
over by the beauties of the Republic, — Madame
Tallien, Madame Beauharnais, Madame Recamier,
At the beginning of our era the enthusiasm
created by Napoleon's victories suggested the sub
jects. War trophies, casques, cannon, laurels, sur
rounded Bonaparte's portraits. A remarkable fan
of this kind, engraved in aqua-tint and signed by
three celebrated artists, Chaudet, Fontaine, and
Percier, is in the possession of Count Liesville.
The fan undergoing so many fluctuations in size,
had become very small, particularly the eventail
brise, which, elaborately cut in fretwork, was much
in favour. Madame de Genlis refers to this fashion
of carrying small fans in her " Dictionnaire des Eti
quettes" : " In the time when women blushed, when
they wished to hide their timidity they sheltered
themselves behind large fans ; now that they blush

52 A BOOK ABOUT FANS
no longer, that nothing intimidates them, they do
not wish to screen their faces, and consequently
they carry imperceptible fans,"
Few fans of any artistic value were produced
during the First Empire, They were still of small
size, made of silk gauze and tulle, spangled and
with applied designs, or of the kind called brise.
Some painters attempted to revive the taste for
painted decorations. Fans in neo-grec style were
the innovations of that period. One of the rare
specimens of that kind is from the collection of the
Countess of Shaftesbury. The prevailing lack
of taste discouraged all efforts to bring this art
industry to its former high standing, although
in some instances the charm attached to the scep
tre of feminine coquetry was as fully recognized
as before. We need only to recall Madame
Stael's appreciation of it in the following lines:
" What graces does not a fan place at a woman's
disposal if she only knows how to use it properly !
It waves, it flutters, it closes, it expands, it is raised
or lowered according to circumstances. Oh ! I
will wager that in all the paraphernalia of the love
liest and best-dressed woman in the world, there is

THE HISTORY OF THE FAN S3
no ornament with which she can produce so great
an effect,"
In 1827, a protective duty in Spain and Austria
checked the export of cheap fans. But the Resto
ration soon brought a revival of this industry, A
journal, Le Miroir of 1821, mentions as one of the
novelties the Anagram fan. The word Roma, for
instance, was changed by a simple mechanism into
Amor. The young men of fashion attempted to
introduce fans at the theatre in imitation of Henry
III, and his Mignons, This whim did not last, but
may have been of service in calling the attention
of ladies somewhat more to the use of the fan.
According to Mr. Charles Robin, the author
of the " Illustrated History of the Exhibition of
1855," the interest for old fans was aroused by a
ball given at the Tuileries in 1829, at which three
quadrilles were danced in costume. The Duch
esse de Berry, desirous to have fans suitable for
the period of her Louis XV. quadrille, found
beautiful specimens collected by a perfumer,
Vanier. These long-forgotten and yellowing fans
excited the admiration of the court ladies, and
the caprice was soon imitated by thousands. In

54 A BOOK ABOUT FANS
order to supply the growing demand, beautiful
specimens of the time of Louis XIV,, Louis
XV., and of Louis XVI. became types after
which skilful painters and sculptors worked,
Mr. Charles Robin, already mentioned, writes:
" Like the caterpillar, which transforms itself into
a butterfly, and in spring spreads its beautiful
wings of enamel and ruby, so the fan, the butter
fly of woman, began in the artistic spring of 1830
to undergo a metamorphosis and appeared clad
in the richest and most harmonious colours.
Mother-of-pearl, ivory, tortoise-shell, precious
stones, the feathers of the humming-bird, spar
kling crystals, the plumes of the ostrich, the gleam
of enamel, the goldsmith's cunning craft, the
fancies of the sculptor, the palette of the painter,
in a word, all the opulence of nature, all the deli
cacy of art, contributed to perfect these admirable
jewels which have become the sceptre and shield
of beauty."
When we think of the disproportionate demand
for old fans, we cannot but regret that during this
later time artists of merit had to employ their
talent in imitating, instead of creating, fans that

THE HISTORY OF THE FAN 55
would represent a new phase of the art. Nobody
ignores the importance given ever since to col
lecting the antique fans which have survived the
injuries of time. Most of the French fans found
in other countries had been sold at the call of
poverty, or given as keepsakes by the aristocrats
who had emigrated. But how many of those
bought as antique fans are authentic would be
difficult to decide.
It is a matter of great interest to us to know
how our ancestors lived, how they dressed, what
were their preferences, their tastes, and achieve
ments. Again, the study of ancient specimens
attracts all those who understand that it is not
possible to work independently of the past. The
experience of successful labour is the best guide
in future attempts after originality in ornamenta
tion, which, as Mr, Ruskin says, consists after all
not in newness but in freshness. To secure a
really valuable antique fan is, however, now very
difficult; while the science of modern decora
tive art is improving rapidly. Colouring has
never before reached greater perfection, and the
earnest study of nature adds daily new resources

S6 A BOOK ABOUT FANS
and varieties to the old experiences. It is evident
that with all the faults and shortcomings of the
present time there is no lack of artists able to
renew the old style by breathing their fancies
and spirit into it. Many modern artists have
occasionally lent their talent to this branch of
art: Ingres, Horace Vernet, Leon Coignet, Rosa
Bonheur, H, Baron, Celestin Nanteuil, Eugene
Lami, Corot, Gerome, Vidal, Robert Fleury,
Gendron, Hamon, Emil Wattier, Antigna, Fran^
9ais, Vibert, Leloir, Madeleine Lemaire, Edouard
de Beaumont.
All the different old styles of fan are coming
again into prominence. Those of ostrich feathers
have perhaps never been made with choicer plumes
than now. Lace fans in Chantilly, Duchesse, and
Point a I'aiguille, sometimes with paintings in
serted, are worked with marvellous skill; indeed,
in viewing these fairy-like films, we may say with
Spencer, " More subtle web Arachne cannot spin,"
But it saddens the heart to think of the painful
labour entailed upon those patient workers whose
cheeks grow pale and wan while their entire life is
absorbed in making such achievements possible.

o

THE HISTORY OF THE FAN 57
In contemplating a painted fan, on the contrary,
we judge from the pleasure it gives us what the
delight of the painter must have been in design
ing it.
Landscapes and flowers, even in pictorial art,
were painted in a conventional way down to the
beginning of our era. But since the love of nat
ural scenery has been aroused by such poets and
writers as Scott, Byron, Wordsworth, Tennyson,
George Sand, and Victor Hugo, a school of land
scape and flower painting has arisen to meet this
new feeling for nature. Flowers are now one of
the most pleasing themes for pictorial illustra
tions and enter to a great extent into modern fan
decoration, especially on account of the oppor
tunities they give of displaying beautiful colouring.
In the old fans, flowers were mostly arranged sym
metrically and introduced as accessories, while in
the typical modern fan they are the principal
motive, thrown into graceful intricate groups in
which a secret balance is nevertheless preserved.
Confusion as means of decoration is employed with
great success in designing fans ; for, as Boileau says,
" A fine disorder is often an effect of art," The

58 A BOOK ABOUT FANS
first artistic fans, decorated with flowers, which
were exhibited at the Universal Exhibition in Paris
in 1855, were painted with exquisite delicacy and
freshness by the celebrated flower-painter, M,
Reignier. The chief modern productions are also of infi
nite variety. Every kind of ancient invention is
renewed; as the feather-fan, the perfume-fan, the
pocket-fan, folding in two by a simple mechanism,
the bouquet-fan, pleated in circular shape when
open, and folding into a hollow space when closed.
In recent years a new combination has been made
by dividing the leaf into panels by placing four or
six of the blades on the surface of the leaf. The
carving and engraving of the handle is prolonged
on these blades which frame the design, interrupt
ing it in a pleasing way. On some fans all the
sticks, carved and spangled, extend on the surface,
forming thus the sole ornamentation. The length
of the blades from the rivet to the upper line of
the mount or leaf gives the fan a stiff appear
ance, however, which accounts for the short success
of this novelty, notwithstanding its rich effect,
A special mention must be given to the screen-

THE HISTORY OF THE FAN 59
fan. Its shape and material have undergone many
changes, but in the main it is much like the origi
nal implement in use before the pleated one was
invented. Besides those which are square, octag
onal, round, or oval, shapes in the styles of Louis
XIII., Louis XIV., Louis XV„ and Louis XVI.
are designed in every possible material.
After the time of the Restoration the manu
facture of the blades was gradually transferred
from Paris to the department of Oise. Only
those of tortoise-shell are still worked in Paris.
Among the living sculptors and carvers of
renown are Jorel, Dourain, A. Bauds, Bast-
ard-Lanoy, and J. Vaillant, The richness and
delicacy of their designs and execution are of
the highest order.
As already mentioned, silk and gauze were
largely used for fans during the reign of Louis
XVI., and almost exclusively through the Direc
tory and the Empire. Vellum, the only endur
able material and therefore indispensable for
paintings of great value, came into demand again
during the Restoration, but could not easily be
procured. In former times it was imported from

6o A BOOK ABOUT FANS
Italy, where the best method of preparing this
supple material was gradually lost. At last, in
our own time, the naturalist M. Drevon, encour
aged by M, Desrochers, one of the leading fan
manufacturers, succeeded in finding again the
secret of making vellum even more flexible and
translucent than in ancient times.
The fan exhibition at the South Kensington
Museum in 1870, numbered 413 antique and
modern specimens. Art critics were unanimous
in declaring that the latter stood the test of
comparison with the best examples of the old
work. To give an encouragement to this indus
try, Queen Victoria was pleased to offer a prize
of ;^400 for the best fan exhibited.
In order to be convinced that the modern fan
has an equal right to our admiration, we need
only look through the list of masterpieces of
which space allows only the mention of a few:
"Arab Dance," by Horace Vernet; "The Good
Mother," by Trayer ; " Diana and Endymion,"
by Ingres ; " Un Repas h la Campagne," by
Diaz; a mythological allegory by Leon Coignet;
"A Month of Love," by de Beaumont; "Village

MODERN MOUNT, Painted by MAURICE LELOiR. Owned by MRS. CORNELIUS VANDERBILT,

THE HISTORY OF THE FAN 6i
Festival," by Veyrassat; "The Toilet of Venus,"
by Ed. Moreau; "A Fete," by Gerome, On
a leaf belonging to the collection of M, Carra
de Vaux three masterpieces are combined: a
landscape by Fran9ais, a figure painting by
Vidal, and one by Ed, Moreau, "A Venetian
Scene," by Eugene Lami, belongs to the Count
ess of Paris ; the " Wedding of Harlequin and
Columbine," by Rossi, was painted for M, Ph.
de Saint-Albin; the wedding fan of the Duchess
of Orleans, by Roqueplan; the wedding fan of
the Princess Mercedes, by Lami, the sticks
being carved by Jules Vaillant. " Temptation,"
by Louis Leloir, "A Scene under Louis XIV.,"
by Maurice Leloir, and a Japanese subject by
Vibert, belong to the collection of Mrs, Cor
nelius Vanderbilt,
It is certainly not for want of appreciation
that Northern nations have not attempted fan
manufacture, but rather because of the more
limited opportunity for their use. Nature and
Art mentions the Order of the Fan instituted
by Louisa Ulrica, queen of Sweden in 1744, for
the ladies of her court, which gentlemen were

62 A BOOK ABOUT FANS
afterwards allowed to join. This seems another
proof that the fan is always attractive and indis-
pensable to women, even in countries where they
are less necessary to cool the air than to carry
on gentle warfare. There are specimens which
have been manufactured in Germany, Switzer
land, and almost every country, some of them
by French refugees.
In the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries fans
were manufactured to a large extent in Italy,
A few rare examples give evidence that prominent
Italian painters have also occasionally decorated
fans. One painted by the celebrated painter
Roman elli, the subject representing the rape of
the Sabines, belongs to the collection of Madame
Achille Jubinal,
From the time of the ancient screens of feathers
and scented leather, fans have been made in
Spain. Quilliet, in his Dictionary of Spanish
painters, relates an anecdote according to which
in the latter part of the seventeenth century, Cano
de Arevalo, a Spanish painter, made a fortune
by painting fans which he sold as French pro
ductions. He was, however, duly rewarded for

THE HISTORY OF THE FAN 63
his beautiful work, by being made court painter
to the queen. The old preference for expensive
French fans, however, always prevailed, and
special styles to suit the Spanish market were
manufactured in France, At present fans are
manufactured in Spain mostly to supply the
home demand and to suit the national taste.
They are easily distinguished from French fans
by their large size, strong material, and high tone
of colouring. The subjects are almost invariably
scenes and customs of the country.
But if Spain is not remarkable for their manu
facture, it is beyond all question the country where
the beautiful senoras and sefioritas excel in the
pretty manoeuvre, " manejo del abanico," and where
the mania for fans is considered, as in France, an
extravagance which testifies to good taste, " A
Spanish lady with her fan," says Disraeli in " Con
tarini Fleming," "might shame the tactics of a
troop of horse. Now she unfurls it with the slow
pomp and conscious elegance of the bird of Juno,
now she flutters it with all the languor of the
listless beauty, now with all the liveliness of a
vivacious one. Now in the midst of a very tor-

64 A BOOK ABOUT FANS
nado she closes it with a whirr, which makes
you start. Pop! In the midst of your confusion,
Dolores taps you on the elbow; you turn round
to listen, and Catalina pokes you in your side.
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 deli
cate machine,"
French literature, both of ancient and modern
times, abounds in beautiful passages referring to
the fan. To give only the most interesting would
make a charming volume. Here is a quotation
from Lemierre : —
" Dans les chaleurs extremes,
Heureux d'amuser vos loisirs,
Je saurai prfes de vous appeler les z^phirs;
Les amours y viendront d'eux-memes."
It is, as Arnault remarks, maliciously, so perfect
that the royal hand of the Count de Provence,
afterwards Louis XVIII., deigned to inscribe the
lines on the blade of a queen's fan, allowing his
courtiers to attribute the authorship to him.
Queen Victoria, the empress of Russia, and

THE HISTORY OF THE FAN 65
ex-Queen Isabella of Spain have remarkable
collections of fans ; the last named is said to
number six hundred specimens. The Countess
of Paris, the Countess of Chambrun, Mme, A,
Jubinal, M, Thiac, M, de Saint-Albin, the Count
ess of Granville, Mme, Alphonse de Rothschild,
Lady Lindsay, Lady Charlotte Schreiber, and
Lady Shaftesbury have some of the finest speci
mens in their possession. Interesting specimens
of Chinese and Japanese workmanship are found
in some of the collections of Oriental treasures.
We have noted in a rapid way the changes
which this charming toy has undergone, showing
how it has recorded, more or less completely,
the customs, ideas, and preferences of successive
generations, hoping thus to bring fan decoration
into notice at a time when this country, arrived
at prosperity, can rest from the nervous hurry
of work and seek to develop the knowledge
and love of the beautiful.
In compiling these few pages I venture to say,
as Montaigne in his essays, " I have gathered
a mass of diverse flowers, giving of my own
only the thread to bind them together," Great

66 A BOOK ABOUT FANS
as may be the shortcomings of this attempt,
only one thing would sadly disappoint me, and
that is, if my modest effort should not induce
at least a few artists or amateurs to try this
charming occupation. It is one especially suita
ble for those who, in hours of leisurely employment,
take pleasure in seeing their work develop into
a thing of beauty. However interesting the study
of past relics may be, it cannot have the charm
of encouraging original efforts or of combining
new designs. The arbitrary demand for old fans
cannot be but disheartening to fan-decorators.
In times gone by artisans, encouraged by royalty
and the nobility, worked at their own leisure,
contented with little, inspired as they were by
the pure love of perfection. How much more
in the present struggle for life is the patronage
of lovers of beauty needed to stimulate the new
endeavours in this delicate branch of art !
In Japan the fan is considered the emblem
of life; as the rays of the fan spread out from
the rivet, so the road of life widens into a
happy future. With us it is the emblem of
pleasure, treasured as the precious souvenir of

DIRECTORY OR EMPIRE, Owned by THE COUNTESS OF SHAFTESBURY,

lODERN; COPENHAGEN, 1863, A WEDDING FAN OFTHE PRINCESS OF WALES

THE HISTORY OF THE FAN 67
some happy day, the date of which is never
forgotten. For this reason a fan is chosen for
the first gift to a young girl entering life. At
a wedding it is always an interesting feature
to see the collection of artistic fans offered
to the bride. The Princess May of Teck, on
her marriage, received forty, many of them charm
ing specimens of taste and workmanship.
After giving all the admiration that is due
to fans that are the work of artists, it is perhaps
not needless to suggest that the work of an
amateur has also its charm. Princess Mathilde
presented a fan of her own work to the Empress
Eugenie. The Princess Louise, the Prince of
Reuss, Madame de Nadaillac, and many other
art amateurs have worked on fans with the con
viction that they are equally precious, whether
signed by a great artist or painted by a
dearly beloved hand.

II
FAN PAINTING

FAN PAINTING

Here shall the pencil hid its colors flow,
And make a miniature creation grow;
So shall the fair her idle hand employ,
—Gay.
' I ^HE aim of this part of the work is to give
*¦ information to those who may desire to ac
quire knowledge of the technicalities of fan paint
ing. Suggestions are also made concerning the
choice of subject, treatment, composition, and col
ouring, without aspiring higher than simply to
direct the attention of amateurs to this line of
art and to awaken interest for it. Those who
have already acquired some intelligence and cult
ure in art matters will easily supply the incom
pleteness, perhaps insufficiency, of this little book.
Amateur painters, people who wish to select their
fans with discernment, as well as those who take
71

72 A BOOK ABOUT FANS
pleasure merely in judging such decorative work
with fairness, will here find some starting-points
which may help them to a more thorough in
vestigation of the subject.
The use of fans is universal, and naturally by
far the greatest number will always be of the
kind which have no artistic value whatever. But
it is time that the wide-spread opinion which
places the beautiful art of fan decoration on the
same level with millinery work should be cor
rected. Fan painting is regarded by some per
sons with a degree of contempt which is hardly
imaginable by those who are devoting to it true
artistic gifts. In the popular conception it is but
another of the attempts of young ladies to spend
their idle moments, — a thing not worthy to
occupy the attention of educated painters. How
many able artists in France, courageously avow
ing to themselves that it is not given to them to
succeed in the higher branches, have contentedly
accepted a more modest distinction in this depart
ment of decorative art, considering that a not
unworthy occupation which even great painters
have occasionally practised.

FAN PAINTING 73
A fan decorator will not have any difficulty in
finding an attractive subject, unless it be the
embarrassment arising from abundance of mate
rial. The chief source of his inspiration will
always be nature. In fan decoration the great
est freedom of treatment is admitted, every man
ner of handling from the closest imitation to the
most conventional interpretation being appropri
ate. A lace fan or one decorated with embroid
ery or spangles requires a conventional design.
The symmetry of it may be absolute — that is
to say, composed of devices rigourously similar,
disposed inversely on either side of an imaginary
line — or else it may be in relative symmetry.
Conventional designs may also be effectively com
bined with faithful reproductions of nature.
It must be observed here that a close imitation
of nature does not in art constitute the highest
excellency. Many subjects which strike us as
beautiful in nature disappoint us when imitated,
however conscientiously, for decorative purposes.
The object of decoration being to excite the eye
agreeably, an imaginative, fanciful treatment gives
keener enjoyment than the most accurate design.

74 A BOOK ABOUT FANS
The emphasis of picturesque parts, idealization
of form and colour, effective light and shade, are
sometimes attained in art only by partial sacri
fice of truth. This liberty of rearranging nature,
so as to give cesthetic pleasure to the spectator,
is taken by all professional painters; but ama
teurs are often unaware that artists have the
same license that poets have to indulge their
fancies. In study from nature the most consci
entious imitation is the only means by which
correctness of the eye can be attained. An at
tempt to generalize must first be made when the
student is far enough advanced to do decorative
painting. Professional decorators imitate nature
closely only when nature happens to be agree
able, and they will subordinate truth to the general
effect whenever it is required.
If the chosen subject be an historical one, the
embellishments derived from costumes and local
scenery are a great resource. Subjects from my
thology, poetry, or allegory, allow even greater
liberty in enriching the design.
The whole range of ancient and modern his
tory and of anecdote lies open for the purpose

FAN PAINTING 75
of decorating fans. Figures of all sorts, Cupids,
emblems with flowers, ornaments, and landscapes
can be arranged in the most attractive manner.
Flowers are a distinctly modern decoration with
us, being presumably suggested by Japanese ex
amples. We must acknowledge here that many
of the best principles of our modern decorative
art are due to Japanese influence. The incom
parable value of their methods is incontestable;
but the servile copying of the art of another
race, with different instincts and habits than
ours, ought not to be encouraged. Without a
close imitation of the Japanese manner the most
charming compositions can be made with haw
thorn, apple-blossoms, roses, violets, lilacs, or in
deed with any wild flowers and grasses. Flowers
have their own language to express youth, ma
turity, age, splendour, pride, purity, modesty. Al
most any human characteristic is attributed to
them. Beetles, butterflies, wasps, dragon-flies, and
especially birds, either grouped with blossoms and
grasses or flying about in picturesque confusion
over the entire surface, make charming decora
tions. Ample opportunity for the display of brill-

76 A BOOK ABOUT FANS
iant colouring and a most beautiful intricacy of
lines are given by all these subjects.
One cannot but be fascinated by the charm
of the antique fans of which specimens have
already been given; and it is only by studying
the works of others that one can avoid mistakes,
shorten labour, and learn to think. The services
rendered by intelligent collectors to all branches
of art-industry cannot be enough appreciated.
The artists who strive most earnestly to renew
their art need to look back on the beautiful
examples of past times, in order to inspire them
selves with the energy and patience required to
work out a new idea.
But, while we admire the old models of good
taste and cherish priceless relics, we must not
forget that beauty is a thing of the present as
well as of the past. It is an eternal influence;
it is constantly, though insensibly, at work, re
newing and forming the taste of present and
future generations.
The antique fan need not, therefore, be more
than a starting-point. The individual tastes and
the originality of our time should not be dis-

FAN PAINTING 77
couraged and suppressed by the rather exagger
ated antiquarian interest of to-day, which is
liable to weaken the appreciation of what is
both new and good. An old fan selected in
the shop of a dealer, or secured at one of the
many sales of collections, may be a beautiful
curiosity, but nothing more; it cannot have the
charm of a souvenir or of an heirloom. The
fan designed by an artist contemporary with the
owner is the only one of which the future gen
eration of young ladies may say, as Ninette in
Austin Dobson's verse,

" I swear upon this fan,
My grandmother's ! '

Notwithstanding the abundance and variety
of artistic material and the liberty of treatment
allowed, the proper arrangement of masses and
lines, in order to form an effective whole, re
quires some effort of imagination. The art of
composing cannot be acquired by rule. Yet
every one possesses in some degree this gift,
and the means whereby the student may develop

78 A BOOK ABOUT FANS
it should not be disregarded. The most valu
able lessons in this regard, as in most others,
have been learned from the combinations of
nature. The sea, the clouds, the mountains, the
trees and flowers, are so beautifully grouped that
we naturally desire in a composition an equally
agreeable assemblage of objects ; and the artist
will follow the natural law of grouping. Still
more, in imitation of nature, the unity and con
tinuity of a composition require the repetition of
these groups and lines, which, though similar
to one another, are infinitely varied in form and
size. These recurrences are to the eye as pleas
ing and restful as the varied repetition of a
theme in a musical composition is charming
to the ear. And, although every one of the com
ponent parts of nature has some interest, there
is always one dominant feature which, by its
beauty or particular interest, captivates at first
sight the attention of the spectator. The sub
ordinate groups or objects will then first attract
the eye in proportion to their relative value as
regards the whole.
In a good composition the spectator should

FAN PAINTING 79
perceive at once the principal motive of the
arrangement. Portions that have particular in
terest or beauty must therefore hold the promi
nent places, and should be accentuated by
subordinate masses or forms which sustain the
effect and give repose to the eye. Thus, whether
the design is composed of figures or flowers,
one group must be made dominant, and the
other subordinate, not abruptly, but by gradual
and almost insensible changes. Every possible
variation in size and form should be introduced
so as to avoid monotony, and to give to the
groups the spontaneous and accidental look of
nature. The good general form of the entire composition
can only be obtained by unaffected simplicity
and by maintaining an artfully concealed order in
the most complicated treatment. To exclude tame-
ness or a commonplace appearance from a com
position, some sweeping lines are effective. The
serpentine line is in itself more beautiful than
a straight one, and a round or oval form than a
square. But, in order to give firmness and steadi
ness to a composition, all varieties of lines must

8o A BOOK ABOUT FANS
be combined. The vertical needs to be balanced
by the horizontal, oblique lines by transverse
obliques; long lines by short, large objects by
a multitude of small parts. All these and others
are not only necessary for harmony, but become
beautiful from their contrasts when they are
rightly mingled. In a good composition one side
is never filled out to the overbalancing of the
other; but to equalize the design so as to avoid
the appearance of incompleteness, it is often
enough to add only an insignificant object.
The intelligent selection or judicious group
ing which gives the proper effects of light and
shade, as well as an agreeable disposition of
colours, are seldom attained without some altera
tions which the material of the mount will not
allow. The beginner will therefore find it very
helpful to sketch the arrangement first on a sheet
of paper, which permits him to perfect it grad
ually. After a little practice it is so attractive
an occupation to harmonize and balance the
component parts of a composition that time
spent in this way will not be regretted ; and, when
the composition is completed, the student may

FAN PAINTING 8i
commence the delightful work of adorning it
with all the treasures of his palette.
A fan should captivate at first sight. This
can most easily be effected by securing bright
ness of light and colour, even at the sacrifice
of other qualities. Brilliant colour alone has
greater charm than form, especially in the deco
rative arts. Our strong feeling for colour is pos
sibly a result of our constant contact with nature.
The soothing blue of the sky, the cheering
green of the fields, the flowers of a thousand
hues in the open air, seen in full sunlight with
out any heavy, dark shadows, have uncon
sciously formed our taste for fresh and tender
tints which charm and lull to reverie. It has
been said that drawing is the masculine part
of art, while colour is the feminine. If so, it
would account for the facility with which a
fan that is beautifully coloured, though it may
not have any other particular merit, will con
quer admiration. In order to illuminate the com
position most generously, the larger part of it
must be occupied by masses of brilliant light
and colour. Dark masses should be avoided.

82 A BOOK ABOUT FANS
All great colourists seem to have found it neces
sary to use shadows very sparingly, and some
times even to sacrifice them entirely to the
brightness of light. High relief can easily be
obtained by deep shadows. But nothing is
gained, for instance, by making a figure look as
if it were stepping out of its place, when com
pleteness of form may be obtained by subtle
gradation. The open-air school that has won
such general acceptance has entirely upset the
old theories as to certain necessary proportions
of light and shadows. Wonderful instruction
may be drawn from the examples of modern
masters, who give the effect of roundness and
relief by shadows which do not sink below a
half-tone. Whatever the distribution of light may be,
the same rule as that for the arrangement of
masses must be observed in regard to it; and
this applies also to shadow and colour. Two
masses of equal intensity ought not to be
allowed to distract attention. This does not at
all prevent the balancing of one part of the
composition with another by means of repetition

White lace with mother-of-pearl sticks. Owned by the EMPRESS EUGENIE.

EARLY XVIIIth CENTURY DUTCH. Owned by MRS. F. R. JONES.

FAN PAINTING 83
of the light in a less degree. A generous
though judicious diffusion of light, as already
mentioned, is necessary for the general effect ;
yet it should be remembered that a decoration
is marred either by too much light or too little.
And as the light, so must the colours of the
composition be repeated with some difference
in quality and strength. Accordingly, if the
principal colour is yellow, it must be carried
over into other parts of the composition by
judicious touches. If the colour is blue, unity
demands that it should be repeated by reflec
tions of the same cool tint. Every principal
tint should be recalled in a similar way.
The greatest possible variety within the limits
of harmony can be obtained by well-managed
gradations. Every touch of colour should vary,
though almost imperceptibly, in strength or tint.
White, for instance, should be quite brilliant only
where a prominent light or relief is necessary.
In the other parts the white colour can be gra
dated into all the delicate hues of mother-of-
pearl. Pink may be yellowish, melting into purple
or grayish-pink, the absolutely pure colour being

84 A BOOK ABOUT FANS
used with much reserve in order to produce
effect. Blue may be fused into greenish-blue,
green into purple with a greenish tinge; and
thus a delicate play of colour, light, and shade
may be continually introduced, especially in large
masses, Ruskin, speaking of gradation of colour, says,
"You will find in practice that brilliancy of hue
and vigour of light, and even the aspect of trans
parency in shade, are essentially dependent on
that character alone, hardness, coldness, and
opacity resulting far more from equality of colour
than from nature of colour," It is, however, in
dispensable to have the general tone pleasing
and the individual colours pure and rich. Tints
that are crude and gaudy or too strong bear the
same relation to colouring as shrill and noisy
sounds to harmony. Rude nations and children
feel strongly excited by loud music or garish
colours, but to more cultivated senses they are
not pleasing. Exact rules in regard to the desir
able quality of tints in painting cannot be given,
for their effect is entirely dependent on the tints
which surround them. As dissonances in music

FAN PAINTING 85
have the power of heightening the enjoyment of
musical tones, so can colours in themselves dis
agreeable be made pleasing by their contrast to
others. Such tints are sometimes even indis
pensable in producing a certain required effect.
Regarded from an art point of view, the pri
mary colours, those which cannot be obtained by
admixtures, are red, blue, and yellow; and for
the practical purposes of painting this old theory
is generally referred to. Maxwell's theory, sci
entifically correct, gives the primary colours as
red, blue, and green. Prof. O. N. Rood's ex
cellent book on Colour may be very profitably
used, the author being both a scientific authority
of the first rank and a practical water colourist.
The presence of the primary colours, not neces
sarily in their purity, but in combination with
each other, constitutes perfect harmony. Green
is the complementary colour of red, because, being
a combination of blue and yellow, it completes
with red the presence of all three. So are blue
and orange, purple and yellow, and all compound
colours which contain the primary colours com
plementary to each other. The proportions may

86 A BOOK ABOUT FANS
vary infinitely; but for the purpose of the painter
one colour should be chosen as the dominant
note, and the others employed sparingly, so as not
to rival the principal tint, but merely to complete
the whole scale, thus satisfying the craving of
the eye for the triad of colours. Painting in a
single shade, or monochrome, is, however, very
effective. The tint which is used to strengthen,
as well as that of the shadows, must be skilfully
gradated if we wish to avoid uniformity of colour.
This permits us to introduce the complementary
colours to some extent. Thus "grisaille," which
is a painting in gray with the light in white,
needs touches of warm brown in the shadows in
proportion to the quality of cold tints used in
the lighter parts.
The small space of this work prevents my doing
more than allude to the theories of colour-harmony.
These, as given in the best of the merely theo
retical treatises on the subject, can teach but very
little, and are sometimes misleading to those who
have not yet adopted some principle for their per
sonal guidance in the art of colouring. Rules may
be formulated for the relative quantity of warm

FAN PAINTING 87
and cold tints and for their proper disposition,
as observed by great painters of times both past
and present; and beautiful results have been pro
duced in accordance with rule, yet such rules are
not essential in obtaining harmony. They may
be entirely disregarded, as some of our great
modern colourists have proved. Their novel and
delightful harmonies in light blue, rose, violet,
gray, or green, enlivened and sufficiently balanced
by small quantities of soft warm tints, are refresh
ing to those who have a sensitive appreciation
of this ethereal, almost immaterial manner of
painting. Does it appear to any of my readers that we
are looking, too high for art-principles when our
object is only the painting of a fan ? Surely, it
is not to be presumed that those who take an
interest in fan painting lack ambition to do their
best in a modest way! The great artist will be
the last one to blame them for looking to his
example for instruction. Still better than by any
theory or examples, the constant study of nature,
and especially of flowers in the open air, the as
siduous contemplation of the morning and even-

88 A BOOK ABOUT FANS
ing sky, will reveal to the earnest student the
secret of harmonizing even the so-called discordant
colours. The innumerable intermediate tints by
which it can be done, the charming effects pro
duced by contrast of the colours which improve
one another to the utmost, are found at every
step in nature. When colour is generously lav
ished, without apparent rule, details and even the
design remain unnoticed, the spectator being en
tranced by a delightful colour sensation.
We sometimes hear colour considered as the
merely sensuous element of art. It is a strange
error. When beauty of form does not also ex
press a sentiment, it addresses itself equally to
the mere sense of sight, and not to the mind.
The splendid and lavish diffusion of colour
throughout nature may well seem to have a
higher aim than merely to procure sensuous
enjoyment. Artistic judgment, quick perception,
refined taste, all those elements which constitute
culture, are conveyed to the mind by the study
of colour. The peculiar character of each of the
colours and certain combinations of them express
almost every emotion of the soul — purity, repose,

FAN PAINTING 89
gayety, passion, sadness, or solemnity — just as
powerfully as form or any other resource of art.
The true artist will never be unjust to the soul of
beauty inherent in colour.
In the manufacture of fans the principal parts
are the handle, consisting of the blades or sticks,
and the mount, or leaf. The total size of the mod
ern fan is from ten to thirteen inches in length, of
which the handle is four to eight, and the leaf five
to eight inches. When the blades which form the
handle are broad, they number fourteen, when
narrow and delicate, sixteen to eighteen, and are
riveted together at the base. They are called
"brins" in French, and the outermost of the
blades, which are broad and protect the leaf when
the fan is closed, are termed in French " panaches,"
and in English guards. The European manufact
ure of sticks is at present almost entirely monopo
lized by France. Ivory, mother-of-pearl, tortoise
shell, sandal-wood, ebony, bone, and lacquered
wood are the principal material in use for the
handle of fans. Some are richly inlaid with gold,
silver, and spangles, others decorated with delicate
carving, engraving, or open work. The guards are

go A BOOK ABOUT FANS
sometimes set with precious stones or enriched
with diamond monograms. The handle sets off
the painting of the leaf to its best advantage, just
as a suitable frame for a picture enhances its
beauty without interfering with it. The manu
facture of the sticks has been greatly improved
by new processes, so that most beautifully finished
work can be obtained at very low prices; and
in the matter of artistic carving the modern
workmanship fully equals that of ancient fans.
Many carvers of great ability give some of
their time to this branch of art; others devote
themselves entirely to it, each one having a
specialty. The leaf, cut in the form of a segment of a
circle, is always painted before being mounted.
Vellum or skin, Japanese paper, satin, silks of
all kinds were for a long time the only material
used. About twelve years ago the gauze fan
came into fashion again ; and ever since that
time gauze, crepe, and almost transparent silk
have been in great favour, as painting has a
most charming effect on these airy backgrounds.
Directions have often been given for sizing

FAN PAINTING 91
material which has not the stiffness necessary
to allow the fan to be properly mounted; but
in a few cases only are these directions of any
practical value. The material which profes
sional fan painters use is sized in factories
for the purpose. As already mentioned in the
preface, the Society of Decorative Art offers
American painters an opportunity to procure
the same kind of material. When the decora
tion is done on crepe or gauze, the segment of
a circle is cut out of a board and the material
secured upon it by means of thumb-tacks. For
silk and vellum an ordinary drawing-board may
be used.
A skilful draughtsman can draw the design
on the material with a fine brush. Those who
wish to transfer the composition will find that
their best way is to trace the design with a pencil
through tracing paper. The outline thus ob
tained is pricked with a fine needle. The trac
ing is then placed on the material stretched on
the board, A tampoon, dipped in charcoal pow
der when the material is light, or in chalk when
it is dark, is passed over the holes. This line

92 A BOOK ABOUT FANS
is followed with a fine brush dipped in Chinese
white or in a neutral tint. Transparent mate
rial, as gauze and crepe, can be put on the
design, and traced through.
Vellum admits of less alteration and "repent
ance " under the artists' hands than any other
surface. It is painted with transparent or semi-
transparent water colours, which requires readi
ness of hand and mind. The somewhat greasy
surface must be lightly rubbed before the painting
is commenced by means of a tampoon dipped
in finely powdered pumice stone, or washed
over with water in which acetic acid, white
vinegar, or alcohol, has been mixed. When
the surface is to receive broad washes, it must
be stretched on a board in the same manner
as water-colour paper, A very resisting kind
of Japanese paper is used for painting fans
entirely with transparent water colour in broad
washes. Silk, satin, crepe, and gauze are
painted in "gouache," or body colour, which is
just the opposite thing to transparent water
colour. While in water colour the light is to
come from the paper, in gouache it is to be

FAN PAINTING 93
obtained by mixing opaque white paint instead
of water with the colours, in order to make
them paler. Gouache painting is very har
monious, transparent, and soft; and the mist
of extreme distance can be exquisitely rendered
while force may be retained. In every respect it
is one of the best methods of attaining truth in
the representation of nature; but, though gouache
is somewhat easier than water colour, it must be
remembered that no method of painting what
ever admits of altering without losing some of
the freshness of the tints.
Very likely it is superfluous to recommend a
palette of water colours. Most of those who
wish to make an attempt in fan painting are
probably conversant with the necessary materials,
and have already their preferences; for there is
no great difference whether the painting is done
on "paper or on some other fabric.
The following colours are considered quite safe
as regards permanence, and are relied upon by
painters who take care to avoid fugitive tints:
Chinese white, ivory black, burnt sienna. Van
Dyck brown, yellow ochre, chrome lemon, chrome

94 A BOOK ABOUT FANS
yellow, maple yellow, Indian yellow, light cad
mium, orange cadmium, vermilion, carmine, Mad
der lake, Veronese green, sap green, emerald
green, cobalt, French ultramarine, Prussian blue.
According to the experience and the habit of
the painter a great many solid colours can be
added with advantage to the above-described
palette. Some artists prefer a complex palette,
others a limited one, relying upon their own skill
for more effectual combinations than those of the
greatest number of prepared colours. Professional
fan painters buy the principal gouache colours
already prepared or in powder, and dissolve them
in water with just enough gum arable to make
the colour adhere. A very small addition of
glycerine prevents their drying too quickly in the
cups. Self-prepared colours are inexpensive, and
can be recommended for economical reasons to
those who paint continually. All water colours
may be used in combination with gouache. Many
artists use exclusively their water-colour palette
mixed with Chinese white to give the necessary
solidity. Water colours are bought in pans or
tubes, and the latter would be the best if it were

FAN PAINTING

95

not that with time some of these colours harden
in the tubes and cannot be expelled.
Bronze and silver are much used in fan deco
rations. Conventional designs shaded and out
lined in gold or silver are effective. When
bronze is only used to relieve the general effect,
the touches must be put on sparingly. It is
needless to say that real gold is used in excep
tional cases only. Bronze for ordinary decoration
is bought prepared or in powder, A very little
gum arable mixed with water will make it adhere
to the material.
Wooden fans, although at present not in fash
ion and rarely seen, even as souvenir fans, can
be charmingly decorated by the ordinary process
of either oil painting or opaque water colour.
The only difference from painting on canvas or
paper is that the various kinds of wood will ab
sorb more or less of the coating of paint. In
order to avoid the possibility of a greasy outline
when the painting is done in oil on certain kinds
of wood a medium called the Adolfi process,
which absorbs the oil, should be mixed with
the paint. Many painters prefer the effect of

96 A BOOK ABOUT FANS
an unvarnished painting; others bring it to a
high lustre by applying one or more coatings
of varnish.
Some ancient ivory fans are admirably deco
rated with miniature paintings. The exquisitely
smooth surface of ivory is particularly adapted to
this style of painting, done in transparent water
colour, with a slight addition of gum arable. In
modern fan decoration, however, this style is al
most entirely neglected.
The principal difficulty in gouache painting,
which, however, may be easily overcome by a
little practice, is that of applying the colours at
once with sufficient depth. Colours appear deeper
while moist, but they lose one-third to one-half
of their value in drying. Great allowance must
therefore be made for this change of effect.
The middle tints are painted broadly with plenty
of paint in the brush, and with the determination
to carry the tint once commenced evenly up to
the nej^t outline of form, even if it seems too
dark, and to let it dry before altering it. In
most cases it will dry more satisfactorily than
was expected, especially as it will be found that

FAN PAINTING 97
some deeper shadows which are to be added will
lower the value of the middle tint somewhat, A
painter who has practice will not stop at any out
line, but will go on grounding from one part to
another, quickly blending contrasting colours into
one another while wet, thus obtaining natural
transparency of colour and the charming grada
tions. Yellow can be melted into pale pink, and
from that into purple, gray, and rich green in a
single wash by keeping the work moist. This
is managed by taking more paint in the brush
than the material will absorb at once.
Sometimes the fabric does not retain sufficient
paint for a solid grounding, and two or more
coatings may be required. This is often the
case when the painting is done on crepe or
gauze. To avoid it, a little alcohol or ox-gall
has to be mixed with the water used for paint
ing. If the grounding is solid, but possibly the
colouring unsatisfactory, glazing with transparent
water colour will afford desirable facility for alter
ing and give greater richness to the tints with
out making the grounding more heavy by the
superposition of another layer of body colour, A

98 A BOOK ABOUT FANS
blue tint can be changed into a green by put
ting yellow lightly over it; and pink can easily
be turned into purple, or a vivid vermilion
lowered, by a wash of pure blue. Brilliant red
is better obtained by a layer of vermilion
touched up with liquid carmine than by mixing
the two colours on the palette. Without touch
ing the colours one can heighten or lower their
brilliancy by working on the surrounding tints.
Red will be made more vivid by adjoining
green, orange gives more brilliancy to violet,
and every tint is heightened in its effect when
put in juxtaposition with its complementary
colour. It may be said that, as a rule, the less colour
used, the better; a heavy painting looks chalky,
and often peels off in scales. Should the colour
be entirely opposed to the tone desired, it is
better to remove it with a brush and a little
water than to oveirpower it by a heavy layer
of paint. When the grounding is dry, the
successive layers of light and finally the high
relief may be put on.
In treatment, as in composition and colouring,

FAN PAINTING 99
the artist must bear in mind the necessity of
giving due value to the principal parts. To
this end he does his utmost in certain places,
while in others he may find it wise to check
his hand, A painting depends for a great part
of its charm on the artistic feeling with which
the necessarily unequal handling of the work
is managed. In order to give the illusion of
space, prominent features must be relieved by
striking details, while subordinate portions are
massed together and artfully merged in the
background by slurring the details as far as
can be done without making it too obvious, A
certain address and personal touch of the brush
improve both form and colour greatly. The
modern reaction against minute exactness of
details and a melting, enamel-like touch has
encouraged many painters to attain great skill
in the broad, dashing manner. The Japanese
artists decided this question for themselves
long ago. For us it remains difficult and
puzzling, since we see great artists adopting
opposite practices in regard to the broad or the
minute style of execution; and in either case

100 A BOOK ABOUT FANS
their works express exquisite taste, and have an
equally good effect.
But, though one may be reluctant to follow
fashion in art, it is not likely that we shall long
resist the charm of a new style, when it coin
cides with good taste and is an improvement
on former methods. To stand by the old prin-
ciples merely from a sentiment of respect and
faithfulness to what has always been considered
correct would impede the attainment of a per
sonal manner of treatment, and hinder progress
in other ways. A much accredited opinion is
that the touch should be broad in large paint
ings and delicate in small ones. Whatever the
decision may be, it is of no material importance
to fan painting, as either a dashing style or the
minute finish may be adopted. The choice, in
deed, will only depend on the decorator or on
the preference of the happy lady for whom the
work is wrought with so much solicitude.
Few are the fortunate painters who have the en
viable gift of bringing their work directly to the
right pitch of shade and hue, who find the result
harmoniously balanced in every part as planned

.^<m'"^-

LATE LOUIS XVI Owned by MISS HEWITT,

MODERN MOUNT. Painted by VIBERT. Owned by MRS. CORNELIUS VANDERBILT,

FAN PAINTING loi
from the beginning. For such an artist to finish
can only mean to add new character, beauty, and
charm; but, for those who have to build up their
paintings by degrees, to finish must necessarily
mean a reviewing and correcting process. Not
withstanding all good intentions in composition,
colour, and handling, the painting does not always
give the pleasing impression which was expected.
Various reasons may bring about this result.
Sometimes too great equality of colour or an
equal strength of shadow in the foreground with
that of more distant parts destroys the perspec
tive, and brings the distant objects to the same
plane ; or the effect of aerial distance and the
transparency of shadows may be destroyed by
heavy touches where the use of thin and limpid
colour was needed. Too many or too strongly
indicated details in the middle tints may need
to be softened or removed, or perhaps brilliancy
of light and relief heightened. Any of these
shortcomings is sufficient to give the painting
a disconnected, spotty appearance, which dis
tracts the eye from the principal motive. But
even then there is no reason to despair, for we

102 A BOOK ABOUT FANS
know that some of the greatest painters ponder
long over their creations. Of all materials
gouache is one of the most patient and helpful,
by allowing us to repair mistakes without mak
ing us pay too dearly in the way of losing all
freshness of tints, A wash of semi-transparent
tint will cancel a multitude of details which one
may have no reason to regret; or, when it is
necessary, a veil of transparent shadow can be
thrown on lights or colours that do nothing
but contend with each other and destroy unity.
Scarcely any term in art is so little under
stood by the amateur artists as the word "fin
ish," For some of them it simply means to
count every petal of a flower, that not one
may be omitted, and to polish their work until
it looks as smooth and cold as a china paint
ing. By means of finishing touches professional
painters try, on the contrary, to correct the
cold uniformity which they may have failed to
avoid from the beginning. Free and elegant
touches of the brush can in a certain meas
ure give to a work that has cost much fa
tigue the charm of freshness spontaneously at-

FAN PAINTING 103
tained by those who possess a more enviable
power over material. To finish is, it may be
repeated, to simplify, to give more character and
expression, to animate the painting by touches
which shall be like accents. These remarks will,
I hope, be sufficient to show that the principles
of fan decoration are the same as those of other
painting. It is a common error of beginners to fear that
rules will fetter their imagination and prevent
the free development of originality. When
these principles of art are set before them, in
stead of accepting them, they fall into a certain
discouragement. It may, therefore, be of service
to remind them that the greatest geniuses in
every art have been the first to master rules.
In works of transcendent imagination which
seem to be beyond rules, we can, if we study
them carefully, find that the artist has con
formed to certain changeless laws of art. These
rules are, however, so skilfully concealed that
only an intelligent understanding can perceive
their controlling presence.
The truth that the highest excellence in any

104 A BOOK ABOUT FANS
branch of art is never attained by mere chance,
becomes when once fully understood and ac
cepted, most consolatory to those who delight
in taking trouble over their work. Genius is
nothing without energy and the capacity for tak
ing pains.
A professional decorator cannot dispense with
a wide and subtle knowledge of nature, nor with
studies made from it with the most minute care.
These may truly be called the capital of the
artist, the reserve upon which he lives. But
those who take up decorative art as a recreation,
and have not sufficient time to win from nature
all the material that is needed for imaginative
combination, may easily find other resources. A
large choice of photographs, engravings, designs
and coloured plates, of which many are con
scientiously outlined and shaded, is at their dis
posal. Directed by the taste which has impelled
them to the pursuit of the art in question, they
can employ material compiled by others in mak
ing charming arrangements. Decorations need
not be literally copied, but composed by selec
tion. By making a judicious choice of good

FAN PAINTING 105
parts, rejecting bad ones, improving whatever is
available, and bringing these features together
so as to form a novel arrangement, the result
may be called personal, and even original, since
the art of composing stands far beyond the art
of copying nature. In many cases amateurs who
have thus commenced by using the material of
others have been led by it to realize the feasi
bility and delight of studying from nature. Fan
painting has become the means of revealing the
dormant treasures of such an artistic tempera
ment. Many a time it has been the first stepping-
stone, soon abandoned for higher pursuits in art.
It is scarcely possible to think of a more charm
ing present or a more artistic souvenir than a
fan the subject of which expresses a noble thought
or a tender emotion, or even which makes a
modest, unpretentious attempt to arrange prettily
the flowers of the field, delighting the simple and
the learned alike.
Every artist ought sometimes to leave his larger
canvases, and by trying to surpass what has
already been done in this humbler line give us
new ideas.

io6 A BOOK ABOUT FANS
Nothing is more needful for a high enjoyment
of life than a refined occupation which appeals to
the sense of beauty. Fan painting is one of the
most attractive of these, and it is also within the
reach of every one who can devote but a portion
of his leisure to it. In pictorial art generally the
artist's whole time must be given, in order to ac
complish anything important.
Not a few amateurs who have acquired a high
degree of skill in their art studies have at the
same time an intellectual culture which gives them
a clear understanding of what it means to attempt
pictorial art. These qualities tend to make them
modest to self-distrust; and consequently they
often do not go beyond their studies from nature,
and leave their inventive qualities quite untried.
But they need not hesitate to apply their accom
plishments of eye, hand, and intelligence to this
practical effort. They will find delight in using
the creative power of their mind instead of re
straining the timid inspirations of their imagi
nation. The practice of drawing was formerly regarded
merely as an accomplishment; but it is now ad-

FAN PAINTING 107
mitted to be a valuable discipline to the eye and
mind, and one of the best means by which to
increase the delicacy of our perception, to develop
our faculty of admiration, to stimulate imagina
tion, and thus to help the attainment of extensive
culture. I wish that space would allow me to speak at
some length of the strange comfort which moments
of leisure employed in an artistic pursuit afford,
of the freshness and new interest given by it to
life. More than any other consideration it would
induce many persons to essay this calming and
cheering occupation, which will enable them, even
more certainly than will their pleasures, to forget
themselves. Let us, then, give our best skill to that
decoration which, more than any other of her
belongings, shows the refined taste of the lady;
and let us hope that, encouraged by the generous
appreciation of lovers of art, both the cultivated
amateur and the skilled painter may be willing
to lead in renewing the beautiful art of a by
gone day, while bringing it into sympathy with
the thoughts and feelings of our own.

Ill
FAN COLLECTING

FAN COLLECTING

L'eventail, c'est I'epee de la femme.

TO anyone who fortunately escapes being born
with the collector's instinct, fans must seem
so trivial that it cannot be worth while to spend
time, money, and patience in gathering them to
gether; and yet a little study of these immortal
butterflies of art gives an interesting idea of
what may be called the philosophy of style in
decoration. As has been told in the first chap
ter, the fan comes to us from the far past of the
East, where to this day it plays a large part in
the life of the people; and in many Western
rooms there are screens or hand fans brought
home as curiosities which are identical in shape
with those carved centuries ago upon the temple
walls of Egypt and India.

112 A BOOK ABOUT FANS
The study of Eastern fans, like that of Orien-
tal porcelain, is one by itself, requiring especial
opportunities not easily to be found in Europe.
According to the report of the Japanese com
mission to the French exhibition of 1878, the
folding fan as we now know it was invented in
the year 670 A.D., under the Emperor Ten-Ji, by
an artisan of Tam-Ba, who was moved to crease
into folds the stuff which had previously been
stretched tight over screens by watching some
bats opening and shutting their wings, from
which the earliest fans were called Komori, which
means a bat. The most famous Japanese artists
of all periods have painted fans ; and even at the
present time it is not uncommon for a group of
them, if they meet at a social gathering, to
sketch upon the spot fans which are exchanged
as keepsakes. Folding fans of iron, called tessen,
were formerly carried by the travelling fencing
students and teachers in Japan ; and, if they were
attacked by highwaymen or fellows of low de
gree, it was a point of honour that they should
defend themselves only with these fans, reserv
ing their swords for enemies of their own quality.

OLD CHINESE, Gold filigree and enamel. Owned by MRS. BUTLER DUNCAN,

FRENCH RENAISSANCE, Originally owned by HENRI III

FAN COLLECTING 113
It is hard for one who is more at home with
European styles to pronounce as to the prob
able age of a Chinese or Japanese fan, because
fashion changes in those countries according to
rules with which we are unfamiliar, and also
because, ever since the fifteenth century, the in
terchange of trade has brought into Eastern art
centres many Western patterns which have been
copied and returned to Europe with modifica
tions. For instance, in the Lazarus collection
in the New York Metropolitan Museum there
is a Chinese fan of the peculiar French style
known as " Cabriolet," which was scarcely more
than a passing fashion in France; and it is
impossible for any one not an expert in Oriental
workmanship to say whether it was made a hun
dred and fifty years ago or only as many
months. Some beautiful Chinese fans are made all of
silver or gold filigree, with a simple and graceful
design in translucent enamel, usually blue or
green, and absolutely the same on both sides,
like the marvellous embroideries of the East.
But, where there is a silk or paper leaf, it is

114 A BOOK ABOUT FANS
apt to be crowded with processions or groups
of figures, in very bright colours, and often
with the heads made of ivory and stuck on,
as in the example given in the first chapter,
the result being to our taste grotesque and
inartistic. About a hundred years ago, and for
some time later, when our grandfathers sent
out for the charming old china, which in most
families was broken up before people knew how
fine it was, they were used also to order for
their womankind fans of carved ivory, with an
interlaced monogram in the centre. Some of
these have survived, and are so delicate and
fragile that they look more like frozen lace than
any hard material.
The best authorities are agreed that the first
folding fans known in Europe were brought back
by the Portuguese, who were established at Goa
early in the sixteenth century. In the reign of
Henri III, of France they were widely used;
and, in an interesting monograph published by
M, Germain Bapst some years ago, he gives an
account of one which was found stowed away
in a garret room of the Louvre Museum, and

FAN COLLECTING 115
which, after a comparison with the description
given at length by De I'Estoile, he believes to be
the same one mentioned in the first chapter as
having belonged to Henri III. himself, the leaf
of which was of parchment, cut into openwork
with the utmost delicacy, with a border like
lace, of the same material. The mount has the
usual two guards, and ten sticks painted yel
low and shaped like arrows, which pass through
little slits in the parchment leaf, the whole being
ten inches high, and opening into rather less
than half a circle. Between each stick the parch
ment is cut away except for its lace-like borders,
and strips of mica inserted on which are painted
the story of Diana and Actaeon, From certain
details in the ornamentation, M, Bapst thinks
that it was made towards the end of the Renais
sance, about 1580, and that it is probably the
oldest authentic European fan. As among the
amusements of the effeminate Henri one of his
biographers mentions that of cutting out paper
into patterns, it is within the bounds of possi
bility, although not of course probable, that this
fan may have been partly of his making, as cer-

Ii6 A BOOK ABOUT FANS
tain irregularities in its workmanship show that
it was cut with a sharp knife instead of a stamp.
One which dates much further back than those
usually found is in the Lazarus collection, marked
as of the Italian Renaissance, The subject is
the Judgment of Paris, the leaf of parchment is
much worn, and the drawing poor, Venus being
far from lovely ; but there is a certain freedom of
treatment which gives it value.
The darker side of this age of contrasts is
shown in the beautiful dagger fan of ebony
and engraved ivory belonging to Mrs. Chauncey,
The blade, which is strong and deeply grooved,
slips back into what are apparently the sticks by
means of a spring ; and, when the handle has been
fitted on, the potential instrument of death looks
harmless enough. The decoration is worth notice,
as showing how the characteristics of a race reveal
themselves even in trifles. On one side of the sim
ulated guards a peasant girl is dancing, while on
the other a boy is playing with a spear. If a Ger
man craftsman had done the work, there would
have been a touch of grim humour somewhere;
but the Italian who wrought it was of lighter

ITALIAN RENAISSANCE, dagger fan Owned by MRS HENRY CHAUNCEY.

FAN COLLECTING 117
heart, and his garlands and birds are quite unmind
ful of what they cover.
Some of the Italian fans of the seventeenth
century were very beautiful, and there are
enough of them still extant to allow of our judg
ing them as a class. The Italian painters of the
day, and those of France who had studied in
Italy, still revelled in brilliant and harmonious
colour, and also took delight in adapting their
work to any exactions of shape or size which
might be imposed on them by architect or
builder, as they were thus given an opportunity
to show their knowledge of composition, per-
spective, and foreshortening. Their fans are
rather lunettes on a small scale, the sticks being
very short, simple, and entirely subordinate to
the sweeping leaf, opening to a full half-circle,
and displaying scenes from history or mythology
painted with a knowledge of drawing and a feel
ing for colour which make them really works
of art. Black and white cannot do justice to
the example from the collection of Mr. Clarence
King, for one of its chief charms is in its colour
ing ; but it gives a good idea of the usual class of

ii8 A BOOK ABOUT FANS
subject and the manner of its treatment, and is also
interesting because the style of its mount is that of
at least fifty years later, a frequent occurrence men
tioned in the first chapter, and which is apt to be
somewhat misleading. Probably in many cases the
leaf, if especially fine, was kept unmounted, as
they are now if painted by well-known artists,
and only made into a fan for some especial
occasion, perhaps as a wedding present.
The well-worn simile of the stone flung into
still water, to start ripples which grow weaker
as they spread, might be applied once more to
the magnificent impulse of the Renaissance, grad
ually losing itself in the formalism of the seven
teenth century, especially in France, Although
we know that the reign of Louis XIV, was very
long, from 1643 ^o 1715, it seems to stretch
almost indefinitely when we look up English
dates, and realize that he was on the throne
when Charles I, was beheaded, that he lived
through the Protectorate and the reigns of
Charles II., James 1 1., William and Mary, and
Queen Anne, and one year after the accession
of George I, There is not another instance in

XVIith CENTURY. ITALIAN. Owned by CLARENCE KING, ESQ

FAN COLLECTING 119
history of the domination of a great country for
so long a time by a personality which was in
itself essentially insignificant; nor could it have
been possible with any people except the French,
who, with all their many fine qualities, are not
remarkable for a sense of humour. When, al
most yesterday, Victor Cousin could write com
placently, speaking of this period, " In a great
century everything is great," we seem to hear an
echo from the galleries of Versailles and the
alleys of Marly. His subjects took the Grand
Monarque very seriously, and it is but fair to
say that he set them the example.
This may perhaps be forgiven him, for no man
was ever more flattered and fooled from his cradle
than he. For instance, the distinguished archi
tect, Mansart, was in the habit of presenting
plans for his approval in which such glaring
mistakes had been made that the king could not
fail to discover them at a glance, whereupon Man
sart was duly and deeply surprised and impressed
by his majesty's profound professional knowledge,
M. Henri Havard, in his interesting book " L'Art
a travers les Moeurs," says that, in his opinion.

120 A BOOK ABOUT FANS
the most curious feature of this curious time was
the existence of the periwig, and that a man who,
in order to make himself more imposing, was will
ing to have his head shaved, and then to pile on
it an artificial mass weighing a couple of pounds
and costing a thousand francs, could not possibly
think, act, and live like one who was content
with natural conditions. English readers will be
reminded of Thackeray's well-known drawing in
his " Paris Sketch Book," where we see the in
significant real Ludovicus built up into the
majesty of Ludovicus Rex by means of his tower
ing head-dress and stilt-like heels.
M. Quicherat remarks that Louis XIV. had
very magnificent ideas, to which his taste, how
ever, was not equal. He was a fairly good judge
of literature ; but in works of art he was incapable
of appreciating anything beyond splendour and
symmetry, two qualities which, in order to please
him, had to be carried to excess. The effect of this
imposition of a pompous mediocrity was soon seen
in all the decoration of the time, which became
elaborate to an extreme degree. Each ornament
was balanced by another, and there were no plain

FAN COLLECTING 121
spaces on which the eye could rest. Mythologi
cal and historical subjects were still painted on
the fans, but the broad treatment which had held
over from the Renaissance now gave way to an
excess of detail. The sticks, usually of ivory
or mother-of-pearl, were longer, and elaborately
carved and gilded. In most specimens they over
lap each other, so that they make a single piece
when opened ; but sometimes each stick has one
or more medallions, and there is a little space
between them. Often one subject was not thought
enough for the leaf, so two or three were crowded
in, and divided by intricate borders. The scenes
from history most often reproduced were those
representing powerful warriors, like Darius, Alex
ander, or Achilles, in compliment to a king who
was assured that he possessed military genius,
or Solomon receiving the Queen of Sheba, as
strangers were expected to be dazzled by the
splendour of the Court. It seems almost an un
conscious prophecy that Belshazzar's Feast should
also have been a favorite subject, as in a fine
vernis Martin in the Lazarus collection. An
other specimen represents the Queen's visit to

122 A BOOK ABOUT FANS
the wise King, and a characteristic detail is
found in the curtains looped between the pillars
of the hall. As yet there was not much drapery
in the rooms where people lived; but in pictures,
tapestries, and fans it is everywhere.
About the middle of the century the fashion
for Chinese porcelain and furniture, and for
copies of what was supposed to be the Chinese
style, introduced another element into what was
already sufficiently complicated and overcharged,
M. Havard says in his " Dictionnaire de I'Ameu-
blement " that it is not easy to determine the
exact time when the taste began to spread;
but M, Larousse is of the opinion that it fol
lowed the publication in 1617 of the travels
of the Jesuit Fathers in China, written by one
of their order. Cardinal Mazarin, who was one
of the greatest of collectors, had a particular
fancy for Oriental art; and in an inventory of
his belongings made in 1653 mention is made
of what must have been remarkable pieces of
furniture and embroidery. There is an inter
esting and touching passage in the memoirs
of Brienne, who was his secretary, and who

LOUIS XIV, BELSHAZZAR'S FEAST. VERNIS MARTIN, In the LAZARUS COLLECTION,

LOUIS XIV, SOLOMON AND THE QUEEN OF SHEBA. In the LAZARUS COLLECTION.

FAN COLLECTING 123
says : " I was walking one day in the small
gallery hung with tapestry representing the
story of Scipio, than which the Cardinal had
none finer, when I heard him coming, shuf
fling along in his slippers and dragging his
feet wearily, like a man weak from sore sickness,
I hid behind the tapestry, and heard him say,
' Must I leave all this ! ' He had to stop at
every step to gather a little strength; and he
turned first to one side and then to another,
and, as each beautiful thing met his eye, he
would say again from his very heart : ' Must I
leave all these which I have taken such pains
to gather? I shall not see them where I am
going !
The visit of the Siamese embassy in 1682
also helped to bring Eastern fashions into favour;
and there is a drawing by Arnoult, dated 1687,
representing a lady in "a summer gown of
Siamese stuff," which was, however, probably
woven nearer home, French artists and arti
sans soon learned to imitate Chinese models
with variations of their own; and in the case
of fans the leaf was sometimes imported from

124 A BOOK ABOUT FANS
China and mounted on French sticks, or a French
leaf added to sticks which had been carved or
enamelled in the Flowery Kingdom, the result
being a somewhat confusing mixture.
Attempts were early made to imitate the
lacquers and transparent varnishes for which
China has always been celebrated; and as far
back as 1691 we find the names of the Langlois,
father and son, Paty, and Des Essarts, well
known as cabinet-makers, who used these beau
tiful finishes, Rongeret and Dagly were also
successful in this branch, the latter being in
1 71 3 director of a workshop establiS(hed in the
royal manufactory of the Gobelins, which turned
out some very fine pieces. But all these names
are now forgotten; and, when we see furniture
or fans of that day in which the painting is
covered with a brilliant enamel-like surface, it
is pronounced at once to be "vernis Martin,"
There were four brothers of that name, who fol
lowed the same trade, and brought it to great
perfection, having several establishments in dif
ferent quarters of Paris, Properly speaking, their
work belongs to the reign of Louis XV,, as

FAN COLLECTING 125
they were granted letters patent in 1730, giving
them the exclusive right during twenty years of
making "all sorts of work in relief, and in the
style of Japan and China." In 1748 their work
shops were declared to be a royal manufactory;
and then it was that they stopped copying East
ern art, adopted French subjects, and covered
with their marvellous varnish cabinet-work, car
riages, sedan chairs, and fans. These latter
were made of straight strips of ivory, often
painted as finely as miniatures ; and, unless they
have had very severe usage, the varnish is still
as hard and bright as when it was new. The
foregoing explanation has been given because
vernis Martin fans differ widely among them
selves, although they can never be mistaken for
any other style. Some have the pompous sub
jects and conventional treatment which we asso
ciate with Louis XIV., and are decorated in the
Chinese style; while those made later are more
in the manner of Watteau and Boucher, Dealers
are apt to insist that every painted and var
nished ivory fan is a "real vernis Martin," and
worth a great deal of money; but beginners at

126 A BOOK ABOUT FANS
collecting may do well to remember that the
fashion for these fans lasted a considerable time,
and many poor ones were turned out by inferior
artists. To go back for a moment, it is un
doubtedly true that the influence of Oriental
models, with their irregular designs and seem
ingly capricious decoration, had much to do with
discrediting the ponderous and mannered style of
the Grand Monarque, a fact of which he was
conscious; and in 1709 an Order of Council for
bade "all persons, of whatever condition, selling,
buying, or keeping any stuffs or furniture, old or
new, coming from India, China, or the Levant,"
This order was renewed several times, even as
late as 1730, but always remained a dead letter;
and during the seven years of the regency, from
1 715 to 1723, taste in France assumed a new
phase, which at its best is the most charming
and artistic of modern times. The last trace
of the Middle Ages disappeared when the most
famous artists taxed their skill to its utmost
to adorn the boudoir, which now first came
into fashion, replacing the oratory of the medi
aeval chatelaine and the small withdrawing-room

FAN COLLECTING 127
which had sufficed for the seventeenth-century
lady. The uncrowned reign of Madame de Main-
tenon, with its mixture of prudery and hypocrisy,
had never been popular in France ; and a natural
reaction against the formalism which had fairly
oppressed the taste and habits of the country
showed itself in art by delicate designs and
graceful shapes with ornamentation sparingly ap
plied. The heavily gilded overlapping sticks of
the fans, for instance, gave place to lighter ones,
often painted in delicate colours, while on the
leaf was a pastoral subject after the manner of
Watteau or Laneret, Some of the most beauti
ful fans belong to this time, but its comparative
simplicity, unfortunately, did not last very long;
and what is known as the style of Louis XV, is
extremely elaborate, although never so theatrical *
and pompous as that of his predecessor. It may
be said here that it is impossible to draw any
hard and fast line which shall divide one period
or style from the next, as they merge into one
another almost imperceptibly, like any natural
growth or development. Individual taste or as-

128 A BOOK ABOUT FANS ,
sociation and the frequency with which a work
man would use up his old stock with his new,
as when he mounted a new leaf on sticks which
he had on hand, combine to make it often im
possible to decide at once with authority the
precise date of a piece of furniture or a fan.
It is universally acknowledged that, while she
did much to ruin her country financially, the in
fluence of Madame de Pompadour was an ex
cellent thing for art. Although her enemies
cast at her that she was only a bourgeoise, she
had been most carefully educated, and had many
of the instincts and tastes of a great lady. Her
brother also, whom she made Marquis de Ma-
rigny and Menars and director-general of build
ings, gardens, arts, and manufactures, filled this
large place well, and between them they encour
aged any artistic novelty. The discovery of Pom
peii in 1 748 led to copies of its delicate and fanci
ful decorations, which were often applied to fans,
but without the strict adherence to the classical
style which was in fashion about fifty years later.
In 1755 an Englishman, Mr, Josiah Child,
brother of the Earl of Tilney, introduced the

>^..>»#

EARLY LOUIS XV. After LANERET. Owned by MRS. F. R. JONES.

FAN COLLECTING 129
cabriolet, a light, two-wheeled cart which was so
called because of its lively motion. It became
very popular in Paris, and in June of that year
Horace Walpole wrote to Mann that "every
thing is to be en cabriolet: the men paint them
on their waistcoats, and 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." The name was
given to one kind of chair; and a particular
pattern of fan, of which an illustration is given
in the first chapter, was also called cabriolet,
nearly every specimen having one of these carts or
some other light vehicle as part of its decoration.
It is interesting to notice that what is usually
known as the style of Louis XVI. was really in
existence some years before he came to the
throne. One of the difficulties in fan collecting
is the impossibility of assigning to any one of
them a fixed date unless it happens to have
been painted for such occasions as a royal birth
or wedding or to commemorate the visit of one

130 A BOOK ABOUT FANS
sovereign to another. But there are a great
many pieces of furniture preserved in the Garde
Meuble or other Paris museums, and also in
private collections, about which everything is
known; and some of them, made as early as
1755, when the influence of Madame de Pompa
dour was still paramount, are fine and pure ex
amples of what is usually identified with thirty
years later. The influence of Rousseau was
very considerable in bringing what may be called
an artificial rusticity into fashion both in man
ners and in art. His " NouveUe Heloi'se " was
published in 1761, and " fimile, ou reeducation,"
the year after; and, when ladies no longer sent
their children out to nurse, but kept them osten
tatiously in their arms or at their feet, we find
the fans hung with garlands of flowers, and
shepherds and shepherdesses in very fine clothes
making offerings to Friendship on altars set up
in gardens, while lambs with wreaths round their
necks personify Innocent Sentiment, The chief
difference between the style of Watteau and
that which prevailed in the time of Rousseau
is that the nymphs and swains who disport them-

FAN COLLECTING 131
selves in sylvan glades or formal gardens on the
canvases of the former and of his followers
seem to be amusing themselves after their own
fashion, while fifty years later they appear always
conscious of being looked at, and are usually
doing something which is meant to be either
moral or sentimental.
With Madame du Barry yet another impulse
was given to manners, and their reflection in
art, which differed widely from the old standards,
Madame de Pompadour, although not of noble
birth, had received the training of a gentle
woman, and had been consequently always used
to the formal manners of good society, and also
to wear clothes which, as we can see by the
engravings of Moreau Jeune, made children look
like little men and women, and must have
obliged a dignified deportment. The head of
a young gentleman of quality, for instance, was
usually shaved and his first wig made when he
was seven years old; and from that time until
his death he often scarcely saw the color of his
own hair, while in Madame de Genlis's memoirs
we have a painful picture of the miseries which

132 A BOOK ABOUT FANS
small girls had to suffer in their stiff and volu
minous apparel, modelled exactly on that of their
mothers. One of the details of French court eti
quette forbade that any fan except her own should
be opened in the presence of the queen ; and, if she
happened to drop a glove or ask one of her ladies
for anything, it was handed on the latter's half-
opened fan.
But Madame du Barry, the daughter of a poor
country girl, whose training was chiefly gained
peddling trinkets in the streets of Paris and in a
shop where she worked as a milliner, was naturally
ill at ease in surroundings which were only toler
able to those always accustomed to them. Her
natural quickness and taste enabled her to imi
tate the manners of good society, so that she did
not make herself ridiculous at Court; but in her
own apartments, and in her chateau of Luciennes,
she threw off all restraint, and indulged herself in
loose garments and comfortable furniture which
were really the first appearance of what is now
the modern tea-gown, lounging-chair, and divan,
while she replaced the pompous flunkeys of the
old regime by her negro page, Zamore, on

FAN COLLECTING 133
whose treacherous testimony she was afterwards
sent to the scaffold.
Towards the end of the eighteenth century
the fan with a leaf of parchment, vellum, or silk,
which was necessarily costly, began to give way
to those painted on gauze or paper. Coloured
spangles had been used for a long time, but they
now grew in favour ; and not fans alone, but every
article of dress on which they could be sewn was
bedizened with them.
The natural sympathy inspired by the suffer
ings and heroic death of Marie Antoinette has
caused her to seem a more important figure in
the history of her time than if she had died
peacefully and in power. Especially has the
influence of her personal taste upon the art of
her time been much overrated. As a child, she
had very little education. When she was mar
ried at fifteen, she could neither write nor speak
French correctly; and throughout her life her
chief likings were for Tiigh play, fine clothes, and
jewels. There was, of course, beautiful furniture
in rooms fitted up for her; but it seems to have
been the outgrowth of a style which was already

134 A BOOK ABOUT FANS
well started. It is impossible that any woman
with really good taste should have helped to
contrive — as it is well known that she did —
the towering head-dresses, surmounted by men-of-
war, windmills, and classical ruins, which are
characteristic of her influence over fashion.
Even before her misfortunes there was a very
definite change in style, with which she seems
to have had nothing to do. As existing schools
all recalled the monarchy and aristocracy of
which the people were growing more and more
impatient, their minds turned to the traditions of
Greece and Rome, which were so distant that
only what was high and noble remained, and
simplicity of decoration naturally followed the
longing for greater simplicity of life.
Two fans in the first chapter illustrate the
change very clearly. In the Garden Scene, al
though the group is still conventional, the decora
tion of twisted ribbons and flowers in straight
lines is very simple and delicate ; while a few
years later, in Cornelia with her children, we
have the full-fledged classical subject, although it
will be noticed that the sticks belong to the

FAN COLLECTING 135
earlier manner. It was difficult, after so many
years of wigs and high heels, to become sternly
Roman all at once.
During the Revolution the fan often became a
satire, a homily, or a declaration, being covered,
as has been said in the first chapter, with em
blems, political sentiments, and likenesses of pop
ular leaders, usually printed directly on paper or
cut out and pasted on muslin or wood. The
period of the Directory was one of transition;
and either because the trades which supplied
luxuries had suffered, or because the heroines
of antiquity who were supposed to set the fash
ion did not carry fans, there are not many
which can be definitely ascribed to that time.
Under the Empire they were very small, and
made of horn, ivory, sandal-wood, or spangled
gauze; but the beautiful painted leaf with carved
sticks had disappeared, and the fan as a work of
art had practically ceased to exist. Those made
after the Restoration were as ugly as the furni
ture of that hopelessly inartistic interval. On
them, as on the clocks and candlesticks, mothers
with leg of mutton sleeves and drooping curis

136 A BOOK ABOUT FANS
taught their children to read, or groups of ladies
listened to a troubadour in an impossible costume
playing a guitar; but the leaf was either coarsely
printed in colours or painted in a very commer
cial manner, and the workmanship of the sticks
was decidedly poor. During the Second Empire
many expensive and beautiful fans were made of
fine laces or painted by well-known artists ; but
in most cases the mount is commonplace, while
in the old specimens it is often quite as good
and as original as the leaf.
It is easy to see why the fan should no longer
be an almost essential part of a woman's dress
and every-day life. Before the time of daily news
papers and the emancipation of women, politics
were largely carried on in society; and the fan
was an instrument of political and social intrigue.
In the engravings of the seventeenth and eigh
teenth centuries we constantly see it used to
shelter a correspondence or make an evident sig
nal; and in the traditions of the French stage
it plays an important part. Now that politics
are the affair of the many, and women are free
to come and go as they will, and send telegrams

LOUIS XIV. CHINESE STYLE, In the LAZARUS COLLECTION.

LATE LOUIS XVI,, or EARLY DIRECTORY, Colored prints pasted on sandalwood sticks.
Owned by MRS. F. R. JONES

FAN COLLECTING 137
and letters by the dozen, the fan is of no more
use as an aid or an accomplice, except in coun
tries like Spain, where women are still to some
extent watched and secluded, and where the fan
is still an ally as well as an ornament, with a
language and etiquette of its own, and manuals
in which they are fully set forth, A pretty
Spanish legend says that, as Psyche was sleep
ing one day on a bank of flowers. Zephyr kept
hovering near her, at which after a time jealous
Cupid took offence, and as a punishment plucked
off one of Zephyr's wings, and gave it to Psyche
that she might ever have cooling breezes; and
this was the origin of the fan.
It has seemed less confusing to speak in this
brief notice chiefly of the fans of France, because
it is there that the finest specimens were pro
duced in the past as at the present day; but
many were made in England, and they have
a character of their own, like the English furni
ture, which is well shown by the specimen given
in the first chapter. It may seem absurd to say
that they have a more moral and domestic look
than the French fans, and yet it is quite true.

138 A BOOK ABOUT FANS
There is the same difference that there is be
tween the writings of Rousseau and of Gold
smith, who lived at the same time, and were
subject to the same general influences. Orna
mentation in the classical style was usually purer
in England than in France, for the reason that
her artists copied directly from the antique, — as
Wedgwood, for instance, took the designs for his
pottery from Etruscan vases; while the French,
like David, made original drawings in what they
considered to be the Greek or Roman manner.
A taste for collecting fans is amusing, and not
necessarily expensive, unless one aspires to the
possession of very fine specimens; and, although
the day for great bargains is over, very good
ones may still be picked up, and not infrequently
in America. In one way they are more puzzling
than silver or china; for they have no hall mark
nor factory stamp, and the old ones are almost
never signed. A few general rules as to style
may be some guide, but observation and compari
son with those in collections will be much more
useful; and no collector of moderate means can
hope to be really successful unless he has that

FAN COLLECTING 139
sort of instinct called by the French "scent,"
which will enable him sometimes to be indepen
dent of rules. The actual sense of smell is often
very useful, by the way, because, if an old fan
had been mended and touched up, the paint and
varnish used will keep their odour for a long time,
which may easily be detected, especially after the
fan has been held for a few minutes in the hand.
As a general rule, fans are supposed by their
owners or stated by dealers to be older than
they really are; and to give an opinion often re
quires a certain amount of tact, as, for instance,
when one is asked by its proud possessor to
admire a specimen said to have belonged to Mary
Queen of Scots, but which could not possibly
have been made within a hundred years after her
death. With the great majority of old French
fans the costume of the figures on them is the
best guide, as these are always in the dress of
the day, unless the subject is classic or mytho
logical; and even then there are frequent lapses
which betray the actual period.
If they are of any considerable value, they
should be kept wide open in frames or in a

140 A BOOK ABOUT FANS
glass case, as each time that they are closed and
opened again the creases become more marked
and worn; and, if carried, they should never be
held too near the fire, as heat warps them.
When at rest in their boxes, they should be
wrapped in tissue paper with a ribbon or an
elastic strap around the guards, in order that
the sticks may be kept close together. While
the modern imitations of old enamels and china
are so perfect that even experts may be deceived
by them, the reproductions of old fans have as
yet been of an ordinary commercial character;
and it is doubtful if skilful counterfeits of fine
specimens could be made to pay unless the
fashion for the originals takes harder hold than
it has done as yet.
Year after year every corner of Europe is
searched by a little army of dealers' agents, so
that the chance of finding a treasure with which
its owner is willing to part for the traditional
song grows more and more unlikely; but in the
modest curiosity shops of the smaller towns there
are still opportunities, and charming specimens
have even been found, like birds blown out of

FAN COLLECTING

141

their way by a storm, on the more prosaic
shelves of second-hand dealers in America.
While there is no possible standard as to price,
a good old fan does not as yet cost more than
a really handsome modern one; and there is al
ways about it the subtle attraction of a fragility
which has outlasted human strength and life.

A NEW AND ENLARGED EDITION.
PEN DRAWING AND PEN
DRAUGHTSMEN.
THEIR IVORK AND THEIR METHODS.
A STUDY OF THE ART TO-DAY WITH TECHNICAL SUGGESTIONS.
By JOSEPH PENNELL.

With over 400 Illustrations, including many Examples from Original Drawings by
Sir F. Leighton, Sir J. E. Millais, Sir E. Burne-Jones, F. Sandys,
F. Shields, E. Pinwell, W. Small, F. Walker, Mahoney
W. North, E. A. Abbey, Holman Hunt, a. Parsons.

Demy 4to. Bound In Buckram. $15.00.

" One can hardly tum the leaves of this sumptuous volume without giving
vent to repeated exclamations of surprised delight. It is a treasury of faithful
specimens of the work and the methods of the artistic wielders of the pen, and
a study of the art to-day, with abounding technical suggestions." — Boston
Courier. " It is indispensable to the artist and almost indispensable to the man who
loves books." — Commercial Advertiser.
" As representing pen illustrative art it stands unique and alone." — Boston
Transcript.

MACMILLAN & CO.,
66 FIFTH AVENUE, NEW YORK

YALE UNIVERSITY

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