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. |
