ENGRAVED FANS OF THE SEVENTEENTH AND EIGHTEENTH CENTURIES. PART II.
IN England the fan’s comments on the public events of the eighteenth and the latter years of the preceding century begin with a satirical allusion to the intrigues of European diplomacy concerning the affairs of Poland. Ten female figures representing France, Spain, Sardinia, Empire, Saxony, Russia, Poland, Britannia, Holland, and Prussia are seated round a table, the first seven playing piquet; an empty chair, labelled ‘I pray to God for peace,’ is reserved for the Pope (Innocent XI.), who is seen on the left protesting that he does not understand the game. A figure in civilian dress in the foreground is holding a scroll which is lettered, ‘’Tis not the interest of the nation to play without advantage. In time Commerce might pay the cards.’ On the extreme right is the Sultan of Turkey on horseback, exclaiming, ‘If you don’t leave off, I’ll tear the cards,’ with the Shah of Persia on foot, saying, ‘Seigneur Jack, Persia shall make you change your note.’ The date is between 1679 and 1689, the period of the pontificate of Pope Innocent XI.
| A New Game of Piquet among the nations of Europe. | Schreiber Colln. British Museum. |
The coronation banquet of George II. in Westminster Hall, on October 11, 1727, is recorded in an extremely primitive etching. The king and queen are enthroned on a daïs in the centre of the fan; in the background are galleries of spectators, and in front the champion of England throws down his gauntlet. The subject is enclosed in a cartouche, and on the sides of the fan are the crown, sceptre, ampulla, vestments, etc.; the whole rudely coloured by hand.
It was, possibly, as some recompense for its author’s gallant defence of their most powerful weapon that the ladies helped to swell the tide of prosperity of the Beggar’s Opera, produced in November of this same year (1727). Fans were carried illustrating the favourite songs of the piece, which enjoyed its successful run of sixty-three nights, ‘making Gay rich and Rich gay.’
The defeat and withdrawal of Sir Robert Walpole’s excise scheme provided the occasion for many satires which appeared during the year 1733. In these Walpole is represented as an itinerant quack doctor, and as an exciseman, in which latter character he was hanged and burned in effigy on April 12th of the same year.
In the fan a comparison is drawn between Walpole and Wolsey, and on a medallion portrait of the last named is inscribed:
‘Wolsey and his Successor here in one behold.