| Spangled gauze with turtle doves. Blue & gold, spangled. | Mr L.C.R. Messel. | Mauve silk & net, spangled. lorgnette embroidered gauze. |
We have seen how, during the period of the balloon petticoat, the fan, like the frog in the fable, anxious to outdo his big neighbour the ox, swelled—and swelled—and swelled. The consequences were less disastrous in the case of the fan, which is nothing if not consistent. The small imps of the fan tribe carried by those truly miraculous creatures the Merveilleuses, whose costume was reduced to such exceedingly scanty proportions that a Frenchman even was moved to inquire if nudity would not have been a gain to modesty, were in perfect keeping with the tout ensemble. The fan lessened its proportions, grew more and more imperceptible as the rest of the costume grew scantier, until, as in the example in the collection of Mr. L. C. R. Messel, the blades measured but two and a half inches!
JAPANESE LADY’S COURT FAN, WITH STREAMERS.
(Ethnological Museum, Berlin.)
CHAPTER VIII
PAINTED FANS OF THE SEVENTEENTH AND EIGHTEENTH CENTURIES. ENGLISH, DUTCH, FLEMISH, AND GERMAN.
