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.