Fan leaves have been worked for many highly placed personages; the example illustrated was presented by the Earl of Crewe to H.R.H. the Princess Mary on her marriage, and is, perhaps, one of the most successful in point of design and richness of effect. A wedding gift to H.R.H. the Princess Maud of Wales has for centre the initial M. surmounted by a crown.
A beautiful example, of the finest workmanship, was presented to H.M. Queen Alexandra on the occasion of her first visit to Ireland after the Coronation, in 1903, and has for centre the Irish harp, with the appropriate inscription in Celtic half uncials, on a ribbon running over the whole field of the fan:
‘I cool, I refresh, and I can keep secrets.’
Another fan was presented to H.R.H. the Princess Margaret of Connaught as a wedding gift, and obtained a prize at an exhibition in Dublin in 1897. The number of medals awarded by the various international and other exhibitions testify to the universal appreciation of this delicate industry, which has for some years past, with the full consent of the nuns, been formed into a co-operative society, thus enabling the workers to participate fully in the profits accruing to the association. The thread is a linen one of various degrees of fineness, from the strong No. 1 to the almost invisible No. 400, and though so delicately wrought, it wears better than most other laces, and can be cleaned repeatedly without suffering injury in texture or appearance.[173]
| Lace Fan, by Alexandre, stick ivory, carved by Brisevin, & painted by Moreau. | Victoria & Albert Museum. |
| Lace Fan, worked by Mdme Minne Dausaert, stick ivory, finely carved with cupids &c. | M. J. Duvelleroy. |
We are enabled, by the gracious permission of Her Majesty, to illustrate the lace fan presented by the Worshipful Company of Fan-makers to Queen Alexandra for use on Coronation Day, 1902. This bears two crossed A’s surmounted by the royal crown. On the panaches the royal monogram again appears surmounted by the crown.
Lace may be said to be the one single industry remaining comparatively uninfluenced by the modern art movement, which is professedly a return to the independent study of natural forms. We say comparatively uninfluenced, since most praiseworthy, and, indeed, successful attempts have been made both in this country and abroad to profit by the abundant ornamental suggestion which Nature everywhere offers us. The beautiful lace fan contributed by M. Duvelleroy suggests almost infinite possibilities in the treatment of this charming material; it is designed on a convention essentially modern; it is the art of to-day, of the present moment, owing practically nothing to the past, and representing that revolt against tradition, which, for good or for ill, has come to be one of the most significant features of modern art.