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and sureness of hand of the peasant workman are said tobe quite wonderful. Considering his want o knowledgeof the principles of drawing, his facility in engraving,sculpturing, and gilding, is certainly remarkable. Thepiercing is performed by means of minute saws, whichthe workman makes for himself with pieces of watch-spring. A remarkable piece of saw-piercing in theshape of a mother-of-pearl fan is exhibited in theFrench Section, No. 149; it contains no less than 1,600holes in the square inch: this tour-de-forcc is the pro-duction of one of these peasant artisans, named DesireFleury.
The printing, the colouring, and the mounting of thefeuille, and the final embellishment of the fan, are usuallyperformed at Paris , under the direction of the fan-maker,called par excellence “ Eventailliste though he hasreally but little to do with the manufacture of the fan,and must be regarded rather as the collector into onefocus, and arranger of the produce of others; yet hislabours are not the less essential. The mounting of thefeuille, its ornamentation with feathers, and final deco-ration, are the operations usually performed by a smallnumber of workpeople in his own establishment; be-sides which he furnishes the drawings to the peasantin the Oise, for the framework to suit the constant changesin fashion, he instructs his feuilliste as to the style ofornament, he groups together the frames and feuilles,and finally he overlooks the whole to see that theworkmanship has been well executed. Except the mount-ings of the feuille and the final adorning of the fan, theother operations are usually performed by workmenat their own homes. The number of fan-makers orEventaillistes in Paris in 1827, was 15, who employed1,010 workmen (344men, 500 women, and 1G6 children),and sold about 40,42UZ. worth of fans. According to the“ Statistique snr VIndustrie a Paris ” drawn up byour colleagues M. Natalis Bondot and M. Sa}', it appearsthat in 1S47, there were 122 fan-makers, comprisingchamber-masters as mounters, feuillistes, painters, andcolourers. The value of the fans made was 110,000/,These masters employed 575 workpeople (262 men,2G4 women, 29 youths, and 20 girls). The workmen onthe average earn 3s., and the women Is. Sd. per day.The men were for the most part copper-plate engraversand printers, lithographic draughtsmen and printers,painters, and colourers; the women were mounters, illu-minators, painters, colourers, and overlookers. Thus intwenty years, it appears that the produce in fans hadincreased in value nearly threefold, whilst the number ofworkpeople had diminished to one half. This change isto be attributed to the employment of machinery; espe-cially of the fly-press in stamping out and embossing theribs, and the extensive employment of chromo-lithography,an art not practised at the former period. By these meansthe French have been enabled greatly to increase theirexports by the production of cheap fans, to compete withthose made by the Chinese . P. Duvklleroy (France , 495,p. 1201) exhibited some small fans, the price of whichwas as low as 5 d. per dozen.
The collection of fans in the French Department ismost complete, and contains several specially decorated inhonour of the Exhibition, and of Iler Majesty and Prince Albert . Beside these and others, painted by first-rateartists, it comprises most of the descriptions manufacturedfor exportation, and which possess distinctive characters,according to the market for which they are destined.For instance, some display great differences in the lengthof the ribs and the portion of the circle occupied by thefan when open: other fans, intended for Turkey andMorocco , are composed entirely of feathers, and, inconformity with the Mohamedan doctrine, no livingobject is painted on them. The principal foreign marketsfor fans made in France are the South American States.In the decoration of such fans as are intended forBuenos Ayres blue and green are carefully omitted,these colours having political significance, and beingprohibited from use on pain of death. All the exhibitorsare of the class called “ Eventaillistes ” as none of themanufacturers of the Department of l’Oise send theirproductions.
British Colonies.
The colonial dependencies of Great Britain contributemany examples of Fans, some of which are interesting onaccount of their simplicity, whilst, on the other hand,those from India present most striking proofs of theluxurious splendour of the Indian princes. British Guiana.Mr. W. II. Holmes (132, p. 986), exhibits fans made ofthe Ita-palm. Canada . A fan of somewhat similarnature, but made of the bark of a tree, is contributed byMiss Helen Rociieleau(175, p. 967). Ceylon. There areseveral rich “Punkahs” or fans, and a richly-paintedivory fan-handle from this island. India . The IndianDepartment contains fans or Punkahs in great variety asregards form and decoration and the material employed,some of them being of a very costly description. Thereare, for example, two fans contributed by 11. II. the Rajahof Kota (p. 924), one with an ivory handle, the other with agold handle : but as the names of the various manufacturerswere unfortunately not ascertainable at the time the Juryexamined these specimens, no prizes were awarded in theirfavour. The Indian fan differs from that of Europe andChina in not closing, and likewise in its form; and it isusually kept in motion by an attendant. Beside the fansaffixed to central handles, all of which are most gorgeouslyenriched with embroidery and jewels; there are exhibitedothers resembling a curtain suspended from a silver rod,which is held horizontally by the attendant, and wavedbackwards and forwards over the head of the wealthyHindoo: and there is also the circular standard-fan; thehandle being a silver staff*, crooked at the top, to whichthe fan is attached on the side opposite to the crook.The attendant stands by the side of his master, and placingthe end of the staff* against his foot, inclines it away fromhis body and slowly swings it to and fro. There is also abeautiful peacock-feather fan from Assam , and a fan orPunkah , composed of China beads and pearls, and made iuthe city of Delhi . The most simple, however, are thosemade of the entire or the divided leaf of the Borassusjlabelli-formis, manufactured at Calcutta , and commonly used bothby natives and Europeans. The other examples comprise,a punkah made of khus-khus grass (Andropoyon muricatus)which, when wetted, emits a fragrant perfume; fans madeof sandal-wood, from Calcutta ; a fan made of bamboofrom Moorshedabad, and several of similar descriptionfrom other parts of India ; and lastly, from Bengal , largeand hand-fans, made of the palmyra-leaf. As far as theReporters could ascertain the names of the contributors,it appears that, besides the fans from the Rajah of Kota,before named, several of the examples were sent by theRajah of Pattiala (p. 924', the Rajah of Jodhpoke(p. 924\ the Jubbulpore School of Industry (p. 924',and Captain Dalton (.4S, p. 791). The inspection ofthese beautiful productions of Indian workmen, naturallysuggests the idea that their skill and remarkable tastemight be turned to profitable account, if directed to theproduction of fans suitable to the European and American markets. Xova Scotia (p. 970) sends an example of aAery simple Indian fan. Trinidad. Lord Harris, theGovernor (p. 975), sends examples of fans for ladies.And from Western Africa , Mr. R. Jameson, of Liverpool(22, p. 955), exhibits several fans from the banks of theNiger , one of which is made of a species of grass.
A few specimens of fans are exhibited in the collectionfrom Egypt , to which much interest attaches, as comingfrom a country in which, possibly, the fan was firstdeA'ised.
There are two exhibitors of fans in the Spanish Court,one of whom contributes painted and also printed “Feuilles ;”and the other both feuilles and complete fans, some ofAvhich are copies from French models. The examples,although they Avill bear no comparison in point of taste orexecution with the splendid fans from France , are good oftheir kind; and it would appear that the attention of theirexhibitors has been directed rather to the manufacture ofan article for general sale, than to the production of worksof art. But it is remarkable, that no finer specimens