Class XXIX.]
007
The modern Greek church is careful to place a fan inthe hands of its deacons to guard the officiating priestand the elements from desecration.
The Roman ladies certainly enjoyed the luxury of thefan, which, gorgeous with peacock's feathers, or delicatewith the tinted plumes of the ostrich, could not yetbe folded, and rendered the sendees of an attendantnecessary.
Jn the* works of the middle ages references are made tothe two forms of the fan, to that employed for winnowingthe grain, and that used in the service of the church,alternately to court the breeze or wave away the flies, tillwe hear of tlie fan as brought to France by Catherine deMedicis , when it was no longer stiff and unyielding, butlight and pliable. In the early part of the seventeenthcentury, it was so constructed that it could be folded inthe manner of those used in the present day. Formed ofpaper and perfumed leather, it became the delight of theFrench Court; and attracting the attention of artists,fans in the luxurious reigns of Louis XIV. and Louis XV. (in the latter under the name of “Pompadours”) shonewith gilding and gems, and at length glowed with thepictures of Boucher and Watteau ; until at length notoilet was esteemed complete without a fan, the cost ofwhich was frequently in those days as high as from 12/.to 1.)/. sterling. In Italy , on the contrary, in the earlypart of the seventeenth century, even painted fans wereof a very moderate price, and of universal use. “ Thefirst fans,” says Coryat, in his Travels in 1608, “that Isaw in Italy , l did observe in this space between Pizig-hiton and Cremona; but afterwards I observed themcommon in most places where I travelled. These fansboth men and women of the country do carry to coolthemselves with in the time of heat by often fanningof their faces. Most of them are very elegant and prettythings. For whereas the frame consisted) of a paintedpiece of paper and a little wooden handle, the paperwhich is fastened into the tops is on both sides mostcuriously adorned with excellent pictures, either of amo-rous things, having some witty Italian verses or fineemblems written under them; or of some notable Italian city, with a brief description thereof added thereto.These fans are of a mean price, for a man may buy oneof the fairest of them for so much money as counter-vailed! an English groat.”
England must have been a great buyer of fans in thelast century, as a lady of that period would have felt asawkward without her fan as a gentleman without hissword. Indeed Addison makes the comparison, and inthe Spectator lie describes an academy where the use ofthe fan is taught. “ In the flutter of a fan,” he observes,“ there is the angry flutter, the modest flutter, the timo-rous flutter, the confused flutter, the merry flutter, andthe amorous flutter.” lie says, “ I have seen a fan sovery angry that it would have been dangerous for theabsent lover who provoked it to have come within thewind of it.”
Gay again gives the fan as a present from Venus to adespairing lover, in order to soften his mistress, anddescribes in verse the hint which the peacock’s tail pre-sents for its construction.
In fan-making the Chinese and French are the greatrivals, and may be said to monopolise the supply of thewhole world. In the lacquered fans the superiority ofthe natives of China is fully admitted; they are unri-valled especially when price is taken into consideration,in the sculpturing and piercing of the wood, bone, ivory,or mother-of-pearl framework. Even their commonestfans are remarkable for boldness and originality of design,brilliancy of colouring, sharpness of drawing, and solidityand correctness of workmanship. The manufacture offans is carried on almost exclusively at Canton, Sou-tcliou, Hang-tchou, and Nankin. The fans of ivory andbone and of feathers, are made exclusively for exportationto Europe or America; those used by the Chinese are ofbamboo polished or japanned, and covered with paper:they are sold at from 10 d. to 14s. C d. per dozen, according
to the quality of the frame and the design of the leaf.*The examples which are in the Great Exhibition did not,however, come direct from any Chinese maker, but werecontributed by three English exhibitors, viz.: Messrs.C. T. Bkaine (p. 1424), J. Danikll (p. 1424-), andIIkwett and Co. (p. 1421). The examples exhibitedcomprise fans of painted and embroidered feathers; afeather-fan painted with silver outlines, representinggroups of Chinese figures, the feathers being alternatelyblue and white; an ivory-fan elaborately carved andpierced, and considering the amount of work, verycheap, its price being only 20s. There are also severalvery common paper-fans, ornamented either with rudedelineations of landscapes, or besprinkled with gold-spangle.
Fan-making has arrived at a high degree of perfectionin France , and presents a remarkable instance of thesubdivision of labour, as may be gleaned from the state-ment, that about twenty different operations, performedby as many pairs of hands, are necessary to the produc-tion of a fan which sells for less than one halfpenny ; andthat these various processes are not all carried ou in asingle manufactory, but on tlie contrary, form four dis-tinct branches of trade, directed by masters employingtlie various artisans, who, for the most part, work at theirown homes, and who are frequently assisted by theirwives and children.
A fan consists of the frame of solid material, called a11 Pied” which is composed of the inner ribs or “ Brins”and the two outer ribs or “ Panaches” and likewise ofthe flexible leaf or “ Peuillc.” The frame is made ofwood, bone, ivory, tortoise-shell, or mother-of-pearl. Tliefirst operation is performed by sawing the material intothe required form for the inner and outer ribs. Theseribs then pass into the hands of auother workman, whoshapes them with a file, and they are then taken upsuccessively by the polisher, the piercer, the sculptor,the gilder, and the workman who fixes on them thespangles and pins of gold, silver, and steel. The frame isnow sent to the manufactory which furnishes the necessarydrawings for the series of operations, where it is riveted,the rivet being frequently ornamented with a preciousstone.
The leaf or feuille is sometimes single, but more oftendouble; and it is usually made of paper lined with silkor calico, but also of parchment, lamb’s-skiu, satin, andsilk gauze. The richer kinds of feuilics are painted inwater-colours on vellum, by artists known as Jeuillistes:and the highest and most expensive class by artists ofcelebrity, since Boucher and Watteau , Camille Roque-plan,Gavarni , Clement Boulanger, and Dupre, have affixedtheir signatures to fans which they have decorated. Tliedevices on the more ordinary descriptions of fans areprinted from copper plates, and coloured by hand, andthe most common sorts are ornamented by the process ofchromo-lithography.
The feuille is folded in a mould of strong paper, and isthen mounted on the frame and glued to the prolong-ations or “Bouts” of the inner ribs. The feuille of thebest fans is after this painted on the edge with gold-size,and gilt with leaf-gold ; but the feuille of the common fansis printed in Dutch metal, previous to its being cementedon the frame. The decorator now ornaments the framewith gold or coloured ornaments, and the fan lastly passesinto the hands of the overlooker, who attaches the tas-sels, and selects the proper sized sheath into which sheplaces it.
The frame or “ Pied ” is made in the parishes ofAndeville, the Deluge, the Boisiere, Corbeil-Cerf, andSainte Genevieve. In the district situated between Meruand Beauvais, in the Department of the Oise , 2,000 work-people, men, women, and children, are employed in tliefan-trade. The woods used are the beam-tree, the plum-tree, ebouy, sandal, and the lime-tree. The dexterity
* Etude pratique du Commerce d' exportation de la Chine ,by Xatalis Kondot, pp. 02, 93.