| Lace Fan, presented to H.M. Queen Alexandra for use on Coronation day, 1902, by the Worshipful Company of Fan Makers. | Her Majesty the Queen. |
Among novelties or curiosities in fans is an example shown at the Vienna Exhibition in 1873, in which each rib was a knife or a fork, or a spoon, or a comb, or a pair of scissors, etc. Any single piece could be removed for use without spoiling the tout ensemble.
In the exhibition of the Fanmakers’ Company at Drapers’ Hall in 1890, a ‘butterfly fan’ appeared. Two large gauze wings, speckled and veined to imitate a gigantic insect, form the fan, the body represented by the handle; upon pressing a button or spring, the wings are set in motion, and, by their fluttering, fan the bearer.
Mrs. Kendal, the famous actress, is also credited with a little surprise, in the shape of a ‘dressing-case fan.’ This is a fan and entire toilet-case in one, and affords its owner an opportunity of beautifying herself on occasions when the ordinary means are unattainable. The sticks are of silver, the leaf of black gauze, with a black velvet mask, resembling those the Venetians carry at Carnival time, set in the centre. Behind this mask, which permits the owner to see everything, may be carried on all the toilet duties for which the fan contains conveniences. Upon turning back one of the broad outer sticks, a little mirror is revealed, and underneath the other is a receptacle for hair-pins, scissors, glove-hook, etc. At the lower end of the fan is a silver box containing a small powder-puff. This was advertised some ten or fifteen years ago as manufactured by Messrs. W. Thornhill and Co.
The employment of the ostrich feather for the folding-fan has been revived during recent years, following an older custom. Many examples occurring in old engravings and pictures may be cited; amongst them the portrait group of the family of Jan Miense Molenaer, by Van Loon, previously referred to, in which a lady holds a folding-fan of white ostrich feathers. (See illustration, p. 196.)
In the sixteenth century, and for a long subsequent period, Venice continued to be the principal emporium for supplying ostrich feathers to Europe, and in no country were they more extensively used than in England. At present England is the mart of the world for feathers; foreign manufacturers, therefore, must perforce come here to make their selections.
It is this latter circumstance, doubtless, together with the universal popularity of the feather itself, which has occasioned their revival—some of the handsomest fans made at present being of that character. The æsthetic value of these fans, for the most part depends, no doubt, from considerations of cost, upon the beauty of the ostrich feather itself, the sticks being generally of plain ivory, tortoise-shell, horn, or bone—thus justifying the criticism passed upon one of the prize-winners at a competitive exhibition at Drapers’ Hall, that it was to the ostrich that the prize ought really to go. Under no circumstances, however, could these folding-fans hope to vie with the magnificent rigid fans of the Elizabethan era, the form of these handles, apparently, offering better opportunities to the designer than do the radiating sticks of the folding-fan. If we might have feathers set in handles designed in the sumptuous manner of these early fans, well and good; if we could have the sticks of the folding-fans more in keeping with the sumptuous nature of the feather, well also, though not quite so good; but the ever-present question of cost must always remain a determining factor.
The feathers of other birds have also been, and are at present, employed for the purposes of the fan; in this connection the charming Chinese fan at South Kensington of the feathers of the Argus pheasant may be cited. (Illustrated facing p. 59.)