We are also in another illumination introduced to a beautiful flowered parterre, in which a Mongol princess is seated before a rippling fountain; attendants wait upon her with fruits, vases containing unguents, spices, etc.; behind, a female attendant waves the fly-flap.
In the decoration of the entrance gate of the temple at Ajmir, a prince appears in a howdah on the back of an elephant, an attendant sits behind waving a fly-flap, a second flabellifer is seated on the head of the animal; the prince himself holds a small fan in his hand, an attendant on foot bears the pankhá, and another the insignia of royalty.
Fair and delicate though these creations of Eastern ingenuity may be, the genius of Oriental imagery and fancy has discovered for us a still more delicate and effective instrument—a Sanskrit poet recounts a graceful fable of a princess of extreme beauty, who, although constantly attending and fanning the divine fire with a view to increasing the prosperity of her father, never succeeded in producing a flame save by the breath of her charming lips.
FANS OF THE FAR EAST—Continued
CHINA
CIRCULAR FAN
‘Like the Moon’ borne by the guard of an Imperial concubine. Chinese authorities are at variance concerning the invention of the fan, which has been attributed to the Emperor Hsien Yüan, B.C. 2697; to the Emperor Shun, B.C. 2255, and to the first ruler of the Chou dynasty, B.C. 1122.
According to a Chinese legend, it had its origin at the Feast of Lanterns, where, on an occasion when the heat became particularly oppressive, the beautiful daughter of a mandarin took off her mask, and agitated it so as to fan the air into a gentle breeze; the rest of the fair revellers were so much struck with the grace of the motion that they one and all let fall their masks and followed the example of the mandarin’s daughter.