The fan-makers were united with the wood-polishers and lute-makers by the edict of August 11th, 1776, as was also the painting, carving, and varnishing relative to these crafts.
The proportions of the folded fan have varied considerably at different periods, in obedience to the caprices of fashion, and this, together with other features, is a general indication as to date. An attempt is here made, by means of a series of diagrams, to formulate, from well-authenticated examples, a system of development; but this can only be accepted in a general way, since during most periods, and especially during the eighteenth century, many exceptions to this rule might be cited.
During the last half of the sixteenth century, doubtless, the general proportion of the fan was that of a fourth of a circle. Alex. Fabri, 1593, gives the costume of the French ladies of his time and of older date, and observes that these ladies held fans of a quarter circle plissés. Vecellio, 1600, gives fans of a similar proportion. These were both brisé and leaf; the fans of Ferrara, decorated with mica insertion, were also of this shape. At this same period, fans were also made of a slightly extended width, the Actæon fan of Cluny being an example.
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| 1550 | 1550-1620 | 1620-1650 |
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| 1660-1700 | 1680-1740 | |
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| 1720-1760 | 1780 | |
The width was gradually extended during the first half of the seventeenth century, until, at the close of the reign of Louis XIII., it had attained almost a full semicircle, the engraved fans of Abraham Bosse being authentic instances.
During the reign of the Grand Monarque the mount is deep, the shoulder, as a consequence, low; the fan, after a slight reduction, again opening out to a full semicircle. The blades, which in the first half of the seventeenth century varied in France from four to eighteen, had increased by the end of the century to twenty-four or twenty-six, the number again falling to between eighteen to twenty-one by the middle of the succeeding century. During the reign of Louis XV. the width of the fan was lessened, being reduced to one-third of a circle, the shoulder being raised about 1720, thus leaving less space for the mount, the blades numbering eighteen to twenty-two.
| Cephalus & Aurora, French. | Mrs Bischoffsheim. |
| ‘Vernis Martin.’ | Mrs F. R. Palmer. |