PAINTED FANS OF THE SEVENTEENTH AND EIGHTEENTH CENTURIES. ENGLISH, DUTCH, FLEMISH, AND GERMAN.
LONG-HANDLED FEATHER-FAN
(Used in the Marie Stuart dance.)
The history of the folded fan in England may, broadly speaking, be said to date from the establishment of the East India Company in 1600; this event marking the commencement of that Oriental trade which assumed such vast proportions during the succeeding century. Isolated examples of the pleated fan had, however, found their way into this country earlier, these either brought by individual traders from the East, or imported from the Continent of Europe. We have already referred to the remarkable instance of the pleated fan appearing on the great seal of England, forming the crest of Cœur de Lion; a conclusive proof that this form of fan was at any rate known, if not in occasional use, in this country during the Middle Ages.
| Telemachus & Calypso, English, 1780. silk mount, spangled, stick ivory, finely carved with medallions in imitation of Wedgwood’s Jasper ware. | The Dowager Marchioness of Bristol. |
The plumed fan, nevertheless, held its own for a considerable period, although it is extremely unlikely that it was much in vogue before the reign of Henry VIII., when we are informed that ‘even young gentlemen carried fans of feathers in their hands, which in wars our ancestors wore on their heads.’[117] Shakespeare refers to ‘those remnants of fool and feather that they have got from France.’ So, also, Stephen Gosson, Pleasant Quips for upstart Gentlewomen, 1596:
‘Were fannes and flappes of feathers fond
To flit away the flisking flies,
As tail of mare that hangs on ground
When heat of Summer doth arise,
The wit of women we might praise
For finding out so great an ease.
‘But, seeing they are still in hand,
In house, in field, in church, in street,
In summer, winter, water, land,
In cold, in heate, in dry, in weet,
I judge they are for wives such tooles
As bables are for playes for fooles.’
The author of Quips for an upstart Courtier, 1620, drawing a comparison between the degeneracy of his time and the purer manners of an earlier period, says: ‘Then our young courtiers strove to exceed one another in vertue and in bravery; they rode not with fannes to ward their faces from the wind.’
In Hall’s Satires, 1598, describing the dandies of his day:
‘Tir’d with pinn’d cuffs, and fans, and partlet stryps.’
In the play of Lingua, or The Combat of the Tongue and the Five Senses for Superiority, 1617, the following directions are given for the character of Phantastes at the head of the second scene of Act II.
‘A swart complexion’d fellow, but quicke-ey’d, in a white Satten doublet of one fashion, green Velvet hose of another; a phantasticall hat with a plume of fethers of severall colours, a little short Taffata cloake, a paire of Buskins cut, drawne out with sundry coloured Ribands with Scarfes hung about him after all fashions, and of all colours. Rings, Jewels, a Fanne, and in every place odde complements.’
In the woodcut headings to the Roxburghe Ballads (c. 1635), both feather- and folding-fans are shown; the frequent illustration of these instruments testifying to the popularity of the fan at this epoch. The first appearance of the modern fan, says Fairholt, may be seen in a print of the early part of the seventeenth century. The long handle is still retained, and the fan, although arranged in folds, does not appear to be capable of being folded. The fans here referred to are those seen in the prints by Vecellio and earlier engravers, small in size, referred to and illustrated in a previous chapter.[118]
It is not until the last decade of the sixteenth century that the folded fan appears in painted portraits, one of the earliest being that of Queen Elizabeth at Jesus College (1590), in which the Queen holds a découpé fan of the character of that illustrated from Cluny, facing page 109, having similar pointed edging.
The edges of these fans were occasionally varied to a semicircular form, a curiously interesting example appearing in a portrait of Elizabeth, Lady Wentworth, by Lucas de Heere, in which the leaf, probably of vellum or parchment, is elaborately découpé; the edges resembling a cheese-cutter in shape, the blades, apparently of ivory, numbering seven.
The patterning often rivalled the finest lace, of which it was obviously an imitation, lace also being used for fan mounts at this period, usually costly Flanders or Valenciennes. In the series of prints by Hollar of the Four Seasons, 1641, the veiled lady representing ‘Summer’ holds in her right hand an opened lace fan, the quaint legend at the foot of the plate running as follows:
‘In Sumer when wee walke to take the ayre,
Wee thus are vayl’d to keep our faces faire,
And lest our beautie should be soiled with sweate
Wee with our ayrie fannes depell the heate.’
| A London Fan Shop, c.1745. | Mr L.C.R. Messel |
| The surrender of Malta. | Mrs Hungerford Pollen. |
The marriage of Charles II. with Catherine of Braganza in 1662 is another landmark in the history of the fan in this country. The Queen and her Portuguese ladies introduced the gigantic green shading fans of Moorish origin, which, in the absence of parasols (then unknown in England), served also to shield the complexions of the ladies from the sun, when they did not wish wholly to obscure their charms by putting on their masks. The Indian trade, however, opened up by Catherine’s marriage treaty, soon supplied the ladies of England with fans better adapted, by their lightness and elegance, to be used as weapons of coquetry at balls and plays.[119]
Large numbers of fan mounts were also imported from Italy, both at this period and later. These are referred to incidentally in one of Steele’s letters to the Tatler, April 23, 1709. ‘I am just come from visiting Sappho [probably Mrs. Elizabeth Haywood, who had been some time on the Irish stage]. As I came into the room she cries, “Oh, Mr. Bickerstaff, I am utterly undone; I have broken that pretty Italian fan I showed you when you were here last, wherein were so admirably drawn our first parents in Paradise asleep in each other’s arms.”’[120]
The fan of Pope’s epigram was, it will be remembered, painted with the story of Cephalus and Procris, the motto ‘Aura Veni.’
‘Come gentle air! th’ Eolian shepherd said
While Procris panted in the secret shade;
Come gentle air! the fairer Delia cries,
While at her feet her swain expiring lies.
Lo, the glad gales o’er all her beauties stray,
Breathe on her lips, and in her bosom play!
In Delia’s hand this toy is fatal found,
Nor could that fabled dart more surely wound;
Both gifts destructive to the givers prove;
Alike both lovers fall by those they love.’
Two fine examples of early fans with subjects from classic mythology appeared at the Walker sale; the first having a skin mount painted with the Triumph of Amphitrite, in which the daughter of Nereus is seated in a shell drawn by dolphins, with attendant nymphs and tritons, a figure of Cupid, blindfolded, hovering above; this in allusion to Neptune having sent the Dolphin to intercede for him, and to bring his innamorata from the foot of Mount Atlas. The stick is rosewood, inlaid with rays of mother-of-pearl. The second, from the collection of the Duchesse de Nemours, representing the marriage of Neptune and Amphitrite, the subject covering the whole field of a deep mount; the stick, mother-of-pearl, carved with a pastoral scene and smaller panels of warriors.
Among the earliest English fans existing in private collections is a mount of the time of Charles I., the original stick of which is said to have been of gold, jewelled. The painting, a copy of the ‘Triumph of Bacchus,’ by A. Carracci, is attributed (probably erroneously) to Peter Oliver. The fan was given by the Princess Anne (afterwards Queen) to her god-daughter, Sarah Robinson, daughter of Sir John Robinson, Master of the Tower, and widow of the eldest son of Sir Humphrey Gore, on her marriage, in 1696, with John Harvey, Esq., of Ickwellbury, Beds. It is an example of a large class of fan mounts produced at this period, which were reproductions of the works of the greater Italian masters, many of which were, doubtless, copied by Italian artists, and either exported to England, or acquired in Italy by visitors to that country.
Two interesting marriage fans of the period of Charles II., both painted by the same hand, appeared at the Walker sale in 1882; the one, ‘An Ancient Marriage,’ with the bridegroom presenting ring, the bride wearing a floral chaplet and attended by maidens with distaff and flowers; the stick of ivory, carved with emblematic figures, mother-of-pearl inlay, and silver piqué. The subject of the other (Achilles and Deidamia) referring to the taking of Troy; on the reverse a view of the park at St. Cloud; the stick, mother-of-pearl, carved with subjects emblematic of marriage. These, doubtless, were made by the French fan-makers who had become domiciled in England, and probably, as Mr. Robert Walker suggests, for important court personages.
| Fêtes on the occasion of the marriage of the Dauphin. 1770. French, | Wyatt Colln. V. & A. Museum. |
| English Fan, painted with medallions of the Visit &c. exhibited at South Kensington in 1870 by the Baroness Meyer de Rothschild. |
It was upon the revocation of the Edict of Nantes, 1685, that the French Huguenots being obliged, through the persecution of their compatriots, to quit their own country, sought refuge in England as well as other countries, where they were received with open arms. Amongst these were a number of éventaillistes, who established an industry, having brought with them, not only the money they had been able to save, but what was still more valuable, their skill as workers, their habitual diligence and thrift. ‘The countries whither they went were enriched by the arts and trades which the French refugees introduced, and still more by the examples of industry, probity, and sincere piety which they exhibited in their own persons.’[121]
In 1709, upon the ‘humble petition of the Ffanmakers that exercise the Art and Mistery of Ffanmaking in London and Westminster and Twenty Miles round,’ a Charter of incorporation was granted by Queen Anne, providing that ‘all Ffanmakers within the prescribed area, and all persons who have served, or shall hereafter serve, as Apprentices to the said Art and Mistery by the space of seven years, and who hereafter, from time to time, shall be Admitted into, or made free of the Society, shall be one Body Corporate and Politick in Deed and in Name, with a common seal, with power to hold lands, and power to sue and defend the same. Power to make bye-laws touching the good estate, Rule, and Government of the Society, and for the Reformation of such abuses and deceits as shall be found to be committed by them either in uttering or making bad and deceitfull works, as also in their several Offices, functions, Misteries, and business touching the said Trade,’ etc.
During the latter half of the seventeenth and the first half of the eighteenth centuries the importation of fans into this country from India, China, and the East was considerable, and, together with the Italian importation, already alluded to, threatened to ruin the home industry. The fanmakers addressed themselves to Parliament, and demanded its prohibition, with the result that a tax of forty shillings a dozen was imposed upon all wooden- and feather-fans, and for a time the importation of all painted fans was prohibited. In 1750 there appear to have been disputes between the Fanmakers’ Company and journeymen fanmakers on account of non-payment of quarterage. Two interesting items of information appear in the Gentleman’s Magazine for October and December 1870 as follows:—
‘On the 28th ult. was try’d a cause between the Company of Fanmakers, incorporated by Charter for the Cities of London, Westminster, and twenty miles round, plaintiffs, and one Wagstaffe, defendant, for quarterage due to them, who was ordered to pay it with costs.’
‘On the 28th ult. was a tryal in the Court of Requests, Westminster, between the Company of Fanmakers, plaintiffs, and some fan-painters, defendants, for non-payment of quarterage, which was determined for the defendants, it appearing that they were not legal members of the said Company.’
The two following items will serve to show the extent of the fan industry in the middle of the eighteenth century, and the adverse conditions under which it laboured.
‘A writer in the Westminster Journal for February 23, 1751 (quoted by the Gentleman’s Magazine for the same year), proposes a tax upon plain and printed fan mounts. Painted ones not coloured to pass free as before. A sixpenny stamp to be affixed in the midst of a plain or printed paper fan mount, and a shilling stamp on a leather one. This may produce a revenue of ten, twenty, or thirty thousand pounds per annum, encourage a very ingenious branch of business, and only hurt about half-a-dozen paultry plate printers, who are enriching themselves and starving of hundreds.’
| English Fan, ivory, finely painted with medallions in the style of Cosway | Wyatt Colln. V. & A. Museum. |
The Gentleman’s Magazine for November 1752 quotes an advertisement which appeared in the Daily Advertiser, ‘from the poor unfortunate artificers in the several branches of the fan trade, whose number is nearly 1000; returning thanks to the Company of Fanmakers for petitioning the E. India directors to discontinue the importation of fans. To excite the regard and compassion of the ladies, it asserts that the home-made fans are in every way preferable to foreign; and that by discouraging the latter, they will relieve a number of unfortunate families from the most grievous distress and despair.’[122]
‘On the 7th February’ (Gentleman’s Magazine, March 1753), ‘the journeymen fanmakers presented the Princess Dowager of Wales with a beautiful and elegant fan, far superior to Indian fans, which was most graciously received.’ This, doubtless, with the idea of obtaining patronage and support for the home-made article.
The imported fans were for the most part sold by tea-merchants and dealers in Oriental wares.
A trade card in the Schreiber collection, British Museum, with an elaborate engraved portrait of Queen Anne, states that John Roberts at the Queen’s Head in Holborn, near Hatton Garden, London, sells all sorts of Fine China Ware; the finest Hyson and Congo Teas, Fine Double Flint Drinking Glasses, etc., and India Fans.
The fan makers also often combined the trade of fanmaking with the sale of millinery and stationery. The Banks collection of Shop Bills includes the following trade card:—
‘Robert Pickeard, at the Swan and Golden Fan in Cheapside, near the Conduit, London.
‘Mounteth and Maketh all sorts of Fans, and Selleth Silk Gauze and Silver Handkerchiefs, Caps, Girdles, Ribbons, Roles, Wiers, Ferrits, Silver
Lace for Shoes, white Buttons for Shirts, Silk and Ferrit Laces, Masks and Necklaces.
‘N.B.—Any Merchant may be furnished with all kinds of Milenary Wares at Cheap Rates.’
Also we find Honour Chassereau, Fan Maker and Stationer, Fan and Crown, Long Acre, London, ‘selling all sorts of Stationery Wares, Wholesale, Retail, and for Exportation.’
The principal enactments for the regulation of the import trade in fans and materials of the fan are here enumerated:—
By the 11th Geo. I. cap. 7, calpins for fans are rated in the Custom House books at 7s. 6d. a dozen, and the duty paid on importation 1s. 5d. and 7/8ths a dozen.
If made of leather, and the leather be the most valuable part, for every 20s. of real value upon oath, the duty is 6s.
By the 12th Charles II. cap. 4, fans for women or children, of French make, are rated in the Custom House books at £2 per dozen, and the duty £1, 5s. per dozen. But if these fans are painted, they are prohibited to be imported, and are seizable as painted wares. The laws regulating the importation of embroidery are still more stringent.
By the Acts Richard III. cap. 10, 3rd Edward IV. cap. 3, 19th Henry VII. cap. 21, 5th Elizabeth, cap. 7, 13th and 14th Charles II. cap. 13, 4th and 5th William and Mary, cap. 10, 9th and 10th William III. cap. 9, 11th and 12th William III. cap. 11, embroidery imported is forfeited, the importer liable to £100, and the seller to £50.
The various materials, as gold and silver thread, or wire, lace fringe, work made of copper, brass, or any other inferior metal, imported, to be forfeited and burnt, and £100 paid by the importer of every parcel so imported. This under 4th Edward III., 10th Anne, cap. 26, 15th George II. cap. 20, and 22nd George II.
| Ivory Empire Fan. | Lady Northcliffe. |
| Spangled Fan, with painted miniatures. English. | Mrs Frank W. Gibson. |
By the 6th Anne, cap. 19, silks wrought or mixed with gold, silver, or other materials, clandestinely imported, are forfeited, with £200 for every importer, and £100 by the receiver, seller, or concealer.
It therefore appears that either mounts, or fans that are painted, are seizable; and that all fans or mounts embellished with gold or silver are prohibited under very severe penalties, particularly under 4th Edward III., and 15th and 22nd George II. Further, paper fan-mounts could not be imported without paying a duty of 55 per cent.; the duty on plain fans being 27-1/2 per cent., or, if imported as toys, 37 per cent.
In a table of fees taken by packers and water-side porters for shipping and landing the goods or merchandise of strangers, second charter of Charles II., 1660, ‘For a load of fans, one shilling.’
The vogue of fans became general during the first half of the eighteenth century, when fan-painting was a most lucrative profession. The sculptor Nollekens tells us that when his wife was a girl, her father’s intimate friend Goupy (a well-known water-colour draughtsman who died in London in 1763) was considered the most eminent of the fan-painters, and that fan-painting was then so fashionable that the family of ‘Athenian Stuart’ (so called on account of his exquisite studies of Athens) placed him as a pupil to Goupy, conceiving that by so doing they had made his fortune; and we learn from other sources that Stuart originally gained his livelihood by painting fans.
A fan-mount in the Schreiber collection is painted with three medallions of Roman views, The Arch of Constantine, The Arch of Titus, and The Forum, the field of the fan decorated with delicate classical grotesques and border, signed ‘Jose Goupy, 1738, N.A.’ The views are skilfully drawn in pen line with wash, in the style of the water-colour draughtsmen of this period, i.e. a low-toned scheme of colour, a good deal of india ink being used. This signed example is of the greatest value in determining the character of Goupy’s work, and it is extremely probable that he was responsible for a good many mounts generally considered as Italian. It was from Goupy, too, that Stuart originally derived his interest in classic architectural remains, and, doubtless also, much of his skill in depicting them.
Fans had, indeed, at this period become an indispensable adjunct to a lady’s toilet, a temporary loss of this instrument, upon occasion, causing much perturbation of spirit. An amusing story of such a catastrophe is told in The Gentleman’s Magazine for April 1736:
‘What whims, what trifles, light as air,
Govern the passions of the fair,
And their dear, thoughtless bosoms tear!
Madame had come to grace the ball with her charming presence, her powdered admirers crowding about her, while,
Some dance, some sip their tea,
Some chat the pleasing hours away,
And all is innocently gay,
when, all on a sudden, Her Ladyship confounds the company by appearing in furious mood, with a voice like thunder, every one demanding the matter. Then the charming Celia, moralising, said:
‘“What pity ‘tis (in great affairs
When prudence tempers all her cares)
This lady should our mirth destroy,
A vixen, for so meer a toy!
Oh! how I blush to hear and see
A nymph (who, all the world agree,
Has acted well three parts in life,
The maid, the widow, and the wife),
Once mistress of so firm a mind,
Who wisely, decently resign’d,
Without a tear, her good old man,
Roar like Othello—for a fan.
Strange! that this engine, wont to prove
The surest instrument of love,
Should give to its illustrious dame,
While others freeze, so fierce a flame!”’
| Wedding Fan, with Blanchard’s balloon, 1784. French | Mrs Hawkins. |
| St. Peters and the Vatican, Rome, probably by J. Goupy. | Dr. Law Adam. |
The fan-shops of Fleet Street, the Strand, and Westminster are continually referred to in the advertisements which appeared from time to time in the Craftsman. The two following note a change of ownership:—
‘Feb. 6, 1741-2.
‘To be sold, at Gordon’s Fan warehouse, The Crown and Fan in Tavistock Street, Covent Garden. All sorts of Fans. Wholesale and Retail, very cheap. The Person leaving off trade.’
‘Feb. 12 1742-3.
‘Gordon’s Fan Warehouse, in Tavistock Street, Covent Garden. Mr. Gordon having left off Trade, the Business, as usual, is carry’d on by his late journey-woman,
Mary Hitchcock,
At the same Place, where Ladies may be accommodated with all sorts of Fans, at the most reasonable Rates.’
From the extremely naïve and interesting ‘fan-shop’ fan belonging to Mr. Messel we are able to gather some idea of what these shops were like. The inscription on the shop sign is ‘Fanmaker, London,’ showing that the district represented was within the London boundary of this period, c. 1745.
During the comparatively brief reign of Queen Anne fans were again made large. Sir Roger de Coverley, upon his courting the perverse widow, declared that he would have allowed her the ‘profits of a windmill for her fans.’[123]
With the proverbial fickleness of fashion, however, this vogue lasted but a short time; the fan lessened its proportions in the second and third decades of the century, when, during the forties, its size once again increased, following the lead of France. ‘Ventosus,’ writing in the London Magazine for 1744, quotes, with some amusing comments, an epigram by Dr. Atterbury, Bishop of Rochester, originally written upon a white fan borrowed from Miss Osborne, afterwards his wife, and referred to by Steele in the Tatler for October 19, 1710:
‘Flavia, the least and lightest toy
Can with relentless art employ:
This Fan, in meaner hands, would prove
An engine of small force in love;
Yet she, with graceful air and mien,
Not to be told, or sagely seen,
Directs its wanton motions so,
That it wounds more than Cupid’s bow;
Gives coolness to the matchless dame,
To ev’ry other breast a flame.’
‘The whole turn of this,’ exclaims our commentator, ‘depends upon the smallness and slightness of the Instrument—the least and lightest toy? Fans now in vogue are both monstrously large and monstrously strong. To say that a fan of eight or nine inches long, which, when extended in a semi-circle could not admit a string of more than fourteen or fifteen, wounds more than Cupid’s Bow, is somewhat extraordinary, but to ascribe the same excellence to one of our modern ventilators, whose Diagonal line, when it is full spread, is longer than one of the Bowstrings of our Hoxton Archers, is ascribing nothing miraculous to it from the fair Hand that may happen to use it.’
Our good Ventosus had witnessed an increase from ‘3 Quarters of a Foot’ to ‘even 2 Foot within this week past’; he looks forward to a still greater improvement when the fan would extend to the same distance as the fashionable Hoop. This would introduce ‘somewhat of uniformity in a Lady’s Dress, and the age would be agreeably engaged at either meeting or following a fair Toast, with both her sails spread, in observing the harmony between the Curve at Top and the Curve at Bottom,’ etc. Our ingenious friend discovers other uses for such an instrument—‘a lady might mount it horizontally, to skreen herself and Family against all the Inclemencies of the weather.’
| Wedding Fan, Directoire, stick horn, piqué in gold, leaf silk, painted with subjects of the Visit &c. | Mr L. C. R. Messel. |
Again, at the Playhouse, a good-natured lady may ‘have it in her power to oblige a whole Side Box by a single Puff, and prevent the Beaux, as well as the Belles, from fainting away at an extraordinary Pathos.’
The possibilities of such an instrument have, apparently, no limit—‘a Blast or two from this machine would be sufficient to whiff away to a convenient Distance all troublesome and worthless Danglers, who may attempt to besiege its fortunate possessor.’
Nay, besides private benefits, one of a national nature occurs to the mind of our imaginative friend—‘20,000 such fans, properly drawn up on the Shore, might blow back the next French invasion, or at least keep off the Enemies’ Fleet till our own had Time to come up.’
Our author might indeed, with strict adherence to truth, have included the beaux as well as the belles in this fanciful defence, with a proportionate increase in the probability of victory. Amongst the effects referred to in the inventory of a beau, who was carried off dead upon the taking away of his snuff-box, and remained unburied, his goods being taken into execution to defray the charge of his funeral—‘The strong-box of the deceased, wherein were found five billet-doux, a Bath shilling, a crooked sixpence, a silk garter, a lock of hair, and three broken fans.’[124]
In the postscript to Addison’s letter on the subject of his ‘Fan Academy’—‘I teach young gentlemen the whole art of gallanting a fan. N.B. I have reserved little plain fans, made for this use, to avoid expense.’[125]
At the dancing assemblies in London, Bath, and elsewhere, it was customary for the gentlemen to select their partners by the ballot of fans, which were placed in a hat, the owner of the fan drawn becoming the partner of the gentleman who drew it. Mrs. Montagu, in one of her letters, refers to this custom. ‘In the afternoon I went to Lord Oxford’s ball at Marylebone. It was very agreeable; and the partners were chosen by their fans, but with a little supercherie.’ A lady’s fan was almost as well known as her face, and it was not difficult, with a little contrivance, to know which to draw. The same lady, writing from Bath in January 1740, says: ‘Last night I took to the more youthful diversion of dancing, and am nothing but a fan (which my partner tore) the worse for it; our beaux here may make a rent in a woman’s fan, but they will never make a hole in her heart.’[126]
The popularity of the union of the ‘Orange Tree with the English Rose’ is abundantly testified by the number of painted fans issued of this subject. A painted bridal-fan of the Princess Anne, daughter of George II., married to the Prince of Orange in 1733, appeared at the Walker sale in 1882, and sold for £26. In this the Princess is seated, attended by the Loves and Graces.
The preliminaries of peace between Austria and France in 1748 provide a subject for a fan appearing at this same sale. The scene represents a tented field. Maria Theresa, Queen of Hungary, joins hands with la France, the rival banners inscribed—‘Vive Louis XV., and Vive la Reine d’Hungrie’; the English banner of St. George in front; at the back the victory of Admiral Hawke. This probably executed for an English partisan on the occasion of the Peace of Aix-la-Chapelle.
A characteristic fan in the Wyatt collection, of the early part of the century, has a paper mount painted with merry-making scenes, persons dancing, drinking, musicians, etc.; the ivory stick carved à jour, painted with birds and flowers; the guards, mother-of-pearl, carved and painted.
| Early Dutch Fan mount. A settlement in the East Indies. | The Dowager Marchioness of Bristol. |
Mr. George Augustus Sala, in his entertaining preface to the fan exhibition held at Drapers’ Hall in 1878, refers to a remarkably curious fan exhibited some twenty years earlier, at a congress of the Archæological Institute held at Worcester. This, evidently an English production, is a gouache on vellum, representing either the Great Lottery of 1714, or the equally remarkable gambling enterprise of 1718, when the popular greed of gain was stimulated to such an extraordinary degree that a million and a half sterling was subscribed.
The scene is the interior of Mercer’s Hall, Ironmonger Lane, Cheapside, where transactions connected with lotteries took place, showing the platform with side galleries conveniently arranged for a crowd of gay gallants and fashionable dames in the full costume of the period; the lottery tickets are in the course of being drawn by Blue-coat boys, a wheel on either side for blanks and prizes. The design, says our author, is identified with a contemporary engraving by H. Parr, ‘Les divertissements de la Loterie,’ designed by T. Marchant, drawn by Gravelot, and published by Ryland. Gravelot was a French engraver and decorative painter, invited to this country by Claude Dubosc to assist in illustrating a sumptuous history of the campaigns of Marlborough.
Of topographical fans, that owned by Miss Moss, giving a view of Kensington Square as it appeared in the latter half of the seventeenth century, is amongst the most interesting: it is extremely fresh in colour, and exhibits a quaint sense of decorative treatment.
A fan with a view of Cavendish Square is attributed to Canaletto, who in the latter part of his life visited London, where he was held in great estimation. The subject is enclosed within a cartouche, with flowers, etc., in the Chinese taste covering the rest of the field. The stick is of ivory, carved à jour, with figures, birds, and foliated ornament; the edges, when closed, form a subject in relief of birds, insects, and fruit, this being a device adopted both in Holland, France, and Italy, but especially in the first-named country. See page 202.
This fan appeared at the Walker sale in 1882, when it was acquired by the late Baroness Burdett-Coutts.
Spangles appeared about the middle of the century, following the fashion of France. These served as borderings to subject medallions, and emphasised the leading lines of the design. A characteristic fan of this period, 1750-1780, has either one or three medallions or cartouches, of pastoral or other subjects, with graceful figures reminiscent of Gainsborough, Hoppner, and other masters of the English school. These figure medallions were usually supplemented by smaller ones of musical or other trophies, dainty flowers, festoons, and borders, the mount being usually silk.
The sticks of these fans were narrow, the number varying from fourteen to sixteen, including the panaches, the latter delicately carved à jour. The material was generally ivory, but occasionally mother-of-pearl. The brins were perfectly straight and flat in the shoulder portion, but invariably richly decorated with embossed gold and silver work, this often taking the form of a cartouche extending over six or eight of the sticks, spangles also being freely used.
It would be difficult to discover a more perfect example of this class of fan, so peculiarly English in type, than the one exhibited at South Kensington in 1870 by the Baroness Meyer de Rothschild. In this the centre medallion represents a lady carrying a lap-dog, visiting a friend who is seated at an embroidery frame; on the inferior panels, a girl playing with a dove, and a boy with a bird-cage and a tethered bird. The mount is silk, with spangled borderings, the stick ivory, finely carved à jour, decorated in variegated gold; jewelled stud. (Illustrated facing p. 180.)
A number of fans were painted by Poggi, who was publishing engraved fans at this period, and whose fans enjoyed a high reputation. We find the following entry in Madame D’Arblay’s Journal for March 1781:—
‘Tuesday.—I passed the whole day at Sir Joshua Reynolds’s with Miss Palmer, who, in the morning, took me to see some beautiful fans painted by Poggi, from designs of Sir Joshua, Angelica, West, and Cipriani, on leather. They are, indeed, more delightful than can well be imagined; one was bespoke by the Duchess of Devonshire, for a present to some woman of rank in France, that was to cost £30.’
| Antony and Cleopatra, Dutch, end of 17th cent. stick ivory later date, 18-1/2 × 10-3/4 | Miss Moss. |
| An Embarcation, (pen & ink.) reverse, a dance of Peasants, stick ivory, finely pierced & carved, Dutch, late 17th. Cent. | M. J. Duvelleroy. |
In the catalogue of drawings, etc., the property of Mr. Poggi, sold by auction by Messrs. Christie and Ansell at their Great Room, next Cumberland House, Pall Mall, on Wednesday, June the 19th, 1782, and two following days. Second Day’s Sale:—
‘DRAWINGS OF FANS
99. Hope nursing Love, by Mr. Poggi.
100. A Nymph nursing the Genius of Love, by ditto.
101. The Universal Power of Love, by ditto.
102. The Three Fine Arts, Painting, Architecture, and Sculpture: from a design of Angelica Kauffmann, by Mr. Poggi.
103. The Marriage of Cupid and Psyche, by ditto.
104. The Universal Power of Love, by ditto.
105. Cornelia, Mother of the Gracchi, displaying her Jewels, by ditto.
106. The Three Fine Arts, Painting, Architecture, and Sculpture: an original drawing by A. Kauffmann.
107. A Nymph nursing the Genius of Love, by Mr. Bartolozzi.
108. Cephalus and Procris, with the portrait of Mr. Pope and the lady to whom he presented a fan with the celebrated lines in the Spectator, ‘Come gentle air,’ etc.: an original drawing by Mr. Cipriani.[127]
109. The Bust of Pope crowned by the Graces, who are admiring the beauty of his works: an original drawing by A. Kauffmann.
110. A Fan emblematical of Victory, composed by a Lady of Quality,[128] by Mr. Poggi.
111. Venus lending the Cæstus to Juno: an original drawing of A. Kauffmann.
112. A Subject from the Etrusque: an original drawing by Mr. Bartolozzi.
113. Angelica and Medoro: an original drawing by Mr. Cipriani.
114. Hope nursing Love, by Mr. Poggi.
115. The Origin of Painting: an original drawing by Mr. Bartolozzi.
116. Cornelia, Mother of the Gracchi, displaying her Jewels: an original drawing by M(?) West.’[129]
Church-fans are referred to more fully in another chapter of this work (page 248). The painted variety gave such subjects as ‘The Meeting of Isaac and Rebecca,’ ‘Judith with the Head of Holofernes,’ ‘The Marriage at Cana,’ ‘Solomon and the Queen of Sheba.’ An early example appeared at the Walker sale in 1882, having a deep mount painted with the subject of Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden; the stick ivory, with the silver piqué ornament so popular during the reigns of Charles II., Queen Anne, and George I.
Mourning-fans are easily recognisable from their generally sombre appearance. In these, the character of the subject is apparently a matter of small consequence so long as the general colour scheme is that of a funeral card, viz. black, white, and silver. In the Wyatt collection is an example of about 1750 painted in black with a pastoral scene, the stick and guards ivory, painted in black in imitation of the Chinese.
The extraordinary popularity of Wedgwood’s jasper ware was not without its influence on the fan. The example in the possession of Lady Bristol has a richly carved ivory stick with medallion subjects of Diana hunting, etc., with amorini, terminal figures, and fauns, in imitation of blue and black jasper, the panels silver piqué. The mount is of silk, with centre panel in the style of Angelica Kauffmann, the border and ornaments in gold and silver spangles, with painted Wedgwood medallions again introduced. (Illustrated facing p. 176.)
It is not difficult to fix its date. Wedgwood had perfected his jasper process by 1777, and it may be taken that the fan was produced between this year and 1780.
The painted ivory brisé fans of the latter part of the eighteenth century are typically English, though derived from an Italian source. They are quite easy of identification, being invariably delicately pierced with a fretwork pattern, painted with medallions usually one superior and two inferior, and gilt, the gold being usually applied with the brush; the fan opening out to the third of a circle.
| Dutch Fan painted with subject of a botanist & lady, stick ivory, carved & painted. | Sir L. Alma-Tadema. O.M., R.A. |
An extremely interesting example is decorated with three medallions, the centre representing a sleeping nymph with Cupids. This formerly belonged to Georgiana, Duchess of Devonshire, and was presented to Queen Alexandra when Princess of Wales by the Duke of Sutherland in remembrance of his mother.
The marriage relations of the Prince of Wales (afterwards George IV.) with Mrs. Fitzherbert formed the subject of an ivory fan, exquisitely cut in fretwork, with three painted cartouches by Richard Cosway, the centre representing the Prince and lady with Religion descending in a chariot pointing with pleading looks to a figure of Hymen, who hovers above; in the two other cartouches the pair are figured in the characters of Fidelity and Constancy. This fan was exhibited at South Kensington in 1870; it appeared at the Walker sale in 1882, when it was sold for eighteen guineas. In 1889 it was in the possession of Colonel de Lancey, and is now in the Hennin collection, Bibliothèque Nationale, Paris.
The fan in the Wyatt collection, elaborately pierced, painted, and gilt, has three medallions finely painted in the style of Cosway, with two small medallions of heads on the guards. The connecting ribbon is green, the general colour effect being extremely good. The fan opens out to a third of a circle, the length of the blades 10 inches. (Illustrated facing p. 182.)
The leaf-fan belonging to Mrs. Hungerford Pollen, of the taking of Malta, refers to the surrender of the island to the British by General Vaubois, the act being signed and concluded on the 5th September 1800. The subject is on a large cartouche, occupying three-fourths of the leaf, the background representing a streamer of lace.
During the period of the Napoleonic wars, a number of French prisoners were installed in England at Norman Cross near Peterborough, Porchester Castle, and Edinburgh Castle, and during their confinement introduced the process of straw marquetry, which had been practised on the Continent since the time of Henry III., and possibly earlier. Boxes, trays, decorative pictures, nick-nacks, and hand-screens were made. Towards the end of the eighteenth century straw plaiting became vastly fashionable, and straw was adopted for hats, ribbons, plumes, girdles, and tassels. The fan was not behindhand, but followed the prevailing taste.
Several of these objects appear in the Victoria and Albert Museum, amongst them being two hand-screens with plaited views.
The fashion lasted well into the nineteenth century, when an extensive manufacture was also carried on in India (Bengal) for exportation to Europe. This chiefly consisted of hand-screens of the pear-shaped gourd type, rush being the material employed.
OSTRICH FEATHER FOLDING-FAN
(From the portrait group by Van Loon at Amsterdam.)THE people of the Netherlands have been famous, from the Middle Ages onwards, for the splendour of their costumes. We have an account of Jane of Navarre, wife of Philippe le Bel, who, upon the occasion of a visit to Bruges in 1301, was so much struck by the pomp and magnificence displayed by the inhabitants, particularly the ladies, that she exclaimed, ‘What do I see! I thought I alone was Queen, but here I find them by whole hundreds.’
The fact that fans were largely used in the Low Countries during the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries is evidenced by the frequency of their appearance in painted and engraved representation. In the ‘Omnium pene Europæ, Asiæ, Aphricæ, atque Americæ Gentium habitus,’ engraved by A. de Bruÿn, and published at Antwerp in 1581, nine years anterior to the earliest edition of Vecellio, the long-handled plumed fan appears in the hands of a Belgian lady; the shorter-handled tuft-fan is also carried by noble ladies of England and France. In the works of the great Flemish painters, Vandyck and Rubens, the rigid feather-fan constantly occurs.
| An Offering to Ceres, stick ivory painted with a rustic scene. German or Dutch, 21” × 11”. From Queen Victoria’s collection. | H.R.H. Princess Louise, Duchess of Argyll. |
In the engraving by ‘J. Côyens et C. Mortier,’ of the family of Frederick and Elizabeth, King and Queen of Bohemia, the young Princess Louysa holds a dark ostrich feather-fan with a mirror in the centre.
In the large portrait group by Van Loon at Amsterdam, of the family of Jan Miense Molenaer, a lady holds a folding-fan of white ostrich feathers, the wavy ivory sticks numbering five; in the same picture another lady holds a small rigid feather-fan composed of the feathers of one of the smaller birds.
In the engraved work by de Bruÿn above referred to, the large folding-fan appears constantly, though not in the hands of the Netherlandish ladies; the fashion of the fan was, however, substantially the same in most countries of Europe. Painted mounts appeared early, and were also large; the extremely interesting mount in the possession of the Dowager-Marchioness of Bristol being probably one of the earliest existing Dutch examples. The subject evidently refers to one of the Dutch settlements in the East Indies, probably the town of Batavia, built by the Dutch in the early years of the seventeenth century. Here is represented a quay, where merchandise (mostly fruits and fish) is being landed from boats, and on which buying and selling is taking place. In the background are buildings of a European character, with a volcanic range of mountains in the distance. A high-masted vessel is moored in the bay, and is partially seen behind the buildings. In the immediate foreground are two cannon-balls mounted on low pedestals. The long veils and other details of costume are similar to those worn by the Dutch during the first half of the century, seen in contemporary engravings; the remarkable peaked, plaited straw-hats are practically identical with those made by the natives of the Malay Archipelago. The leaf, which has been removed from the stick and stretched upon a frame, is painted in gouache or paper, probably a little later.
Of subject fans, historical or fanciful, that illustrated from the collection of Miss Moss (Antony and Cleopatra) is amongst the most charming in its quaint naïveté, and is almost certainly Dutch. The Queen is about to dissolve the pearl, which she exhibits to the astonished Antony and the serving-woman beside her. Cooks in the foreground prepare the dishes, while servitors carry them to the table. An old-fashioned chimney-corner is seen on the left, with fire-dogs and pot hanging. Music is provided by harpsichord, lute, and fiddle. The costume is of a nondescript character, Antony wearing an extraordinary plumed helmet, the Queen in ermined cloak, both having diadems. The mount, of skin, is particularly pleasant in colour quality, and probably belongs to the last years of the seventeenth century. The stick and guards of a later date. A still finer example, similar in the character of the painting, though of a somewhat later date, is the fan illustrated by gracious permission of H.R.H. Princess Louise, Duchess of Argyll, facing page 1; this was the gift of the Duke of Coburg to Princess Victoria (afterwards Queen) in 1836, from the collection of fans at Gotha. These two fan leaves, as also Lady Bristol’s, may be accepted as original productions, i.e. the work of artists possessing some inventive power, rather than, as in the case of so many fan leaves, mere transcripts of well-known pictures.
An extremely interesting type of mount has a large vignette, usually of two figures, occupying the centre, or the whole field of the fan. In these fans the sticks are of carved ivory, often strongly reminiscent of Chinese design, or having costume figures of the character with which we are familiar in early woodcuts. Two examples in the Wyatt collection represent pastoral groups, extremely good in style, the colour scheme being most effective.
| Dutch Fan, Ivory stick, carved, painted, & gilt. | Mrs Davies-Gilbert. |
| Dutch Fan, ‘Pagoda’ stick, applied straw work on leaf. | Mr L. C. R. Messel. |
In the treatment of the mount the Dutch invariably followed the practice of Italy and France. Many were painted in the Chinese taste, some in imitation of the finer fans of China. The sticks of these were usually of pierced ivory. An excellent example in the Wyatt collection shows in the centre compartment the garden of a Chinese house, with seated figures and visitors arriving. A panel on the right represents an astronomer making observations, and on the left is a fight between men in boats on a river. A capital effect is obtained in this fan by means of line work in gold, this being particularly effective over the blue water in the boat scene.
The fan illustrated facing page 198 is interesting from the cut-work of the mount, an imitation of the cut-work Italian fans of the seventeenth century; in this instance, the pattern is produced by means of stamping, done before the leaf is painted. The stick and guards are extremely effective, and are of ivory, pierced, carved, painted and gilt.
Flemish fans are often decorated with subjects from Scripture history; as Jacob and Rachel, Abraham entertaining the three Angels, scenes from the lives of Elijah, Ruth, and Boaz; these evidently for use at church. A fine example of the end of the seventeenth century appeared at the Walker sale in 1882, and passed into the Franks collection. This is a crowded composition of the passage of the Israelites through the Red Sea; the stick of plain ivory, the guards carved with figures of Bellona.
The subject of Rinaldo in the Garden of Armida also occurs on a fan in the Wyatt collection, the mount chicken skin, the style and colouring that of the later Roman school of painting. The stick and guards of ivory, carved with scroll-work and figures, the date about 1700.
Embroidery was also employed. An unusual example, the method scarcely to be commended on account of the weight, is also in the Wyatt collection, with a naturalistic landscape and figures, the embroidered work covering the whole field of the fan, and consequently rendering it heavy both in appearance and actual weight. The stick and guards are tortoise-shell, pierced and embossed with gold, probably of a later date than the mount, which may be put at c. 1650.
The method of painting upon ivory, with a subsequent covering of varnish, if indeed it was not anticipated by the Dutch, was practised in Holland concurrently with the brothers Martin in France. It was an instance in which a new departure or fresh invention occurred simultaneously in several places, but whether the Dutch, Italians, or French were the first in the field with this method of decoration, it is certain that the varnish was perfected by Martin.
The ivory brisé fans of the Dutch were, like the French, small in size, and at the end of the seventeenth century, says Redgrave, were frequently imported into Paris and decorated in ‘Vernis Martin.’ In a most effective type of fan, the plain cream white of the ivory forms part of the decorative scheme; three medallions, one large and two small, of landscapes with figures in the foreground, form the sole decorations; the ivory background, the green connecting ribbon, and the prevailing blues and greens of the panels, constitute a most pleasant harmony. These fans usually open out to a little more than a quarter of a circle. An example appears in the Wyatt collection.
In another type, the plain ivory sticks are painted in the Chinese taste, the fans slightly larger than those previously referred to. In some, purely Chinese motifs are employed; in others, a semi-naturalistic arrangement of flowers and festoons is associated with the Martin type of decoration on the guards and lower semicircle of the fan.
In an extremely interesting fan in the Wyatt collection, this principle is carried further by the introduction of three medallions of single figures—a man with a cask of wine on his back, holding a lantern and goblet, and two female figures of flower- and fruit-sellers; the guards and lower semicircle in the Chinese taste, the blades connected by a green ribbon.
Perhaps the prettiest and most characteristic of the Dutch ivory fans are those in which the blades are cut in fine open work, and a border of from 1-1/2 to 2 inches, delicately painted with flowers, fruit, birds, and butterflies.
| German Fan, the gift of H.R.H the Prince Consort to Queen Victoria, painted with medallions of dancers &c. ivory stick, carved, gilt, & painted with miniatures. 21” × 10-3/4”. | H.R.H Princess Louise, Duchess of Argyll. |
| Pastorelle, German, stick finely carved with figures, canopies &c. given by the Prince Consort to Queen Victoria from the collection of Fans at Gotha. |
| Pastorelle, French or German. | Landesgewerbe Museum Stuttgart. |
In some instances the principal portions of the decoration are of thin ivory applied and afterwards painted.
In these fans the connecting silk ribbon is usually white, and placed immediately below the painted border, instead of on the edge. This arrangement allows the ends of the blades to be rounded or otherwise ornamented.
Sandalwood is pierced and painted in a similar way to ivory, forget-me-nots being a favourite motif for the decoration, first on account of their suitability of sentiment—as love-gifts—and also by reason of the blue of the flower harmonising with the colour of the sandalwood. In some examples the background of this forget-me-not wreath or border is pierced, the connecting ribbon being also blue of a slightly different tint to the flowers.
The horn-fans are either pierced entirely in flat open work, or painting is employed as an additional enrichment, both sides of the fan being usually decorated with garlands in gouache. A pretty fan in the Wyatt collection has five heart-shaped garlands with the colour of the flowers alternately red and pink, the light-blue connecting ribbon forming a very effective contrast to the natural colour of the horn; indeed the connecting ribbon in each instance forms a decorative feature, the colours being of pink, blue, brown, or white, as the colour scheme demands. The horn is either of its natural colour, or stained to various hues, generally saffron.
There are also the small fans decorated with spangles, much in vogue both in Holland and elsewhere towards the close of the eighteenth century and later. The mounts are of white gauze or net, decorated with pierced and cut steel ornaments and spangles, embroidered with gold thread and braid, the stick and guards usually of stained horn inlaid with steel.
A charming example of the small spangled Dutch fan is of silk, with an inserted band of gauze ornamented with silver spangles and stamped silver ornaments, the stick and guards of horn with inserted spangles.
Dutch sticks often present qualities which are remarkable and unusual, the curious example owned by Mr. Messel being a case in point. This, by a device at once simple, ingenious, and effective, is made to resemble, when closed, a Chinese pagoda, and is probably an imitation of a Chinese original. The leaf is of small interest, being poorly painted in the Chinese taste; the costumes of the figures are, however, of applied straw of various colours.
The practice of carving the edges of the closed stick with figures, heads, or ornament, though not confined to the Dutch, was employed by them to perhaps a greater extent than in other countries. The curious example in the possession of Sir L. Alma-Tadema, showing a well-carved head at the handle, presents interest at either front, side, or back view of the closed fan. The leaf also of this fan, no less than the stick, presents points of exceptional interest, and represents two figures of a botanist and lady seated in a garden laid out with fountains, etc., a villa in the distance, and possibly refers to Linnæus, and either the villa of Harmanby, about a league from Upsala, which he used as a summer residence and converted into a little university, his pupils following him thither, or the Queen’s gardens at Ulriksdal, near Stockholm, arranged by the illustrious botanist.
The great traditional school of German design has never affected the fan, nor is it desirable that it should; though a plumed fan, or, for that matter, a folding one, designed by a Dürer would indeed be a precious possession.
German fans present no characteristics peculiar to the Teutonic race; the type is French, tinctured perhaps by a certain heaviness of effect, lacking the light, dainty touch of the French. A few, however, reach a high level of excellence, and compare favourably with the best French workmanship, notably an early example, illustrated, which appeared at the Exhibition at South Kensington in 1870, given to H.M. Queen Victoria by H.R.H. the Prince Consort, from the collection of fans at Gotha. In this the mount is vellum painted with a pastorelle, the stick of ivory, carved with a series of miniature figures under canopies, coloured, and gilt. The guards are extremely curious, being cylindrical in shape, the lower segment fluted, the shoulder carved with arabesques, and surmounted by small heads.
| Telemachus. German, c.1750. stick mother of pearl, carved, gilt. & painted. | Kunstgewerbe-Museum, Berlin. |
| Love’s Mirror. German, c.1760. | Kunstgewerbe-Museum, Berlin. |
Another fine example (illustrated facing p. 4), from the collection of H.R.H. the Princess Louise, Duchess of Argyll, was also the gift of the Prince Consort to Queen Victoria, and is decorated with a series of medallions of dancing figures, etc.
A type of fan, apparently peculiar to Germany, common during the eighteenth century, has painted subjects cut out and laid on lace or net, a kind of painting appliqué, the effect extremely good. An example decorated with pastoral groups was exhibited at South Kensington by H.R.H. Madame la Comtesse de Paris; the stick ivory, carved à jour, with figures laid on gold-foil; the foliage, etc., coloured. This was bought in Dresden about 1860. A fan similar in character, the date about 1765, was exhibited at Karlsruhe in 1890.
‘If the fans of the eighteenth century,’ says Mr. H. F. Holt,[130] ‘yielded in grace and elegance to those of the sixteenth, they certainly (upon occasion) exceeded them in richness and magnificence, the materials used being often costly Flanders lace, the handles splendidly ornamented and inlaid with jewels. As the climax, however, of costly magnificence,’ continues this writer, ‘I will conclude with a description of the fan of the Duchess of York, who, shortly after her arrival in England, displayed a pleated fan entirely of diamonds, with an ivory stick pierced and set with diamonds in a mosaic pattern; the outside ones were set with a single row of diamonds, whilst very large brilliants fastened the fan at the bottom.’
The eighteenth century was indeed, par excellence, the era of the fan, which was to be seen in the hands of every woman, from princess to peasant.