Nashville union and American. [volume] (Nashville, Tenn.) 1868-1875, 1872-07-28
MY LADY'S FAN.
Its History and Antiquity-Where
and How 1t Came. "a Z +
The Fans Of Other Days and Other
Climes-Fans Artistic and
Otherwise.
What the Great Masters Had to Do
with Fans, and How They Did 1t.
Fans for the Million, and Fans for
Five Hundred Dollars Apiece.


+ Five Hundred Dollars Apiece.
al sing that graceful toy whose waving PLAY
| With gentle gales relieves the sultry day."
Cool topics for thought and discussion
being just now decidedly in order, the far
may be looked upon as quite little
godsend for the pens that have run the
| gauntlet of chilly themes, and still find the
burden of writing something or other to b.
upon them. ~ E .t.,
THE ANTIQUITY OF THE INSTITUTION.
Unlike very many of the auxiliaries Of
| fashion the fan is by no manner of means
modern institution. In varying forms
and different materials, It has
been In use from the earliest
times: it may be traced in the monumental
and other records Of the Chinese, Japanese,
Indians, Persians, Greeks and Romans, as
well as in the poctical illusions of Homer
and other classical writers. 1t has always
been employed In religious rites and ser
vices, and as the decorative emblem of
sovereignty; and in all hot-sunned climates
it is naturally fashionable with men as
well as women, for its use as a shade to
the face to cool the heated features, or as a
chdSSeW0uebe. During. the earlier middle
ages we find no t. ace of the tan in Europe,
although it is most probable it was still an
article in use. The first mention of it ap-
pears in the first part of the thirteenth can
fury in the cathedral and abbey records,
which refer to it as san appendage for dec
Grating the ceremonies of the church."
Later in this century fans made of feathers
fixed in richly carved and decorated han
die, were worn by the Italian ladies, sus-
pended from their girdles.
TIL FOLDING FAN.
The Japanese invented at an early day,
the folding fan, and they always have
been famed in its manufacture. The Chi
nese adopted it, and from China it was
brought into Portugal during the fifteenth
century, and in the next century appears to
have been in quite general use in Portugal,
Spain, and Italy. From Spain in the six
teenth century, it found its way to
France, "with the Italian perfumers of
Catherine de Med'cis, soon became
fashionable at court, and was in great favor
with the mignOnneS of Henry Ill" In
England, fans were used as female orna-
ments in the reign of Henry VIII, and are
said to have been introduced during the pre-
ceding reign. Queen Elizabeth always wore
q ldll % pdlI VI ECl dPpntCly
and it was safe and acceptable present for
Q courtier to make. aL
From this time the fan appears to ha We
been throughout Europe an essential part
of a lady's dress. Its principal site of
mnufacture was in France, where the
Chineses method was followed. Gold and
precious stones, painting and miniature in
the finest papers from Chins taffetas from
Florence, united to embeiIish it. The
trade grew in importance, and the manu-
facturers were enabled to make laws for its
regulation, and to enjoy divers other priv
ileges. This was in the reign of Louis
XIV, and in the succeeding reign the fancy
manufacture may be said to have reached
its height. -r 3.--l..--
FAN MAKING IN ENGLAND.
During about the same period the fan
came into general use in England, the
feather fan being the earliest known. That
there was quite considerable trade estab-
lished in Great Britain during the last half
of the eighteenth century-at time, by the
way, when there were over 500 manufaetu-
rers in France alone-is evident from a
petition to the House of Commons, entitled
"The lawmakers grievance by the importa
ton of fans from the East Indies" and re-
citing that 'smanufacturers of fans and fan
sticks, though it may seem slight to some,
is certainly at this time of very great
consequence to a very considerable branch
of the trade of England, for that it en-
ploys multitudes of men, women and child
rem in making the sticks, papers, feathers,
in ordering the silk (Which paper, leather
and silk is manufactured in this nation);
likewise great numbers employed in paint
ing, vanishing and japanning; and further,
that until there be put stop to the impor-
tation of Indian fans and fan-sticks, of
which it can be proved that SOC, 900 have
lately been brought over, great numbers of
poor people continually employed in the
work, must inevitably perish"
THE ARTISTIC PHASE OF THE BUSINESS.
Following this it appears that in the 18th
year of Charles l, protecting duty of 40
shillings per dozen was imposed upon fans,
and, if painted, their importation was strict
ly prohibited. In the reign of Queen
Anne, the London manufacturers obtained
a charter of incorporation, and thencsforth
the trade of fans within the city was limited
to the members of the corporation, and
continued to flourish. Referring to the
reign of George T.. NoIlekens, the eminent
sculptor, tells that when his wife was girl
her fathers intimate friend, Goupy Ga we'll
known water color craftsman, who died in
London, 1859 was considered the most
eminent of the fan-painters, and that fan
painting was then so fashionable that the
family of "Anthenian Stuart" placed him
as pupil to Goupy, CO .ceiving that by so
doing they had made his fortune; and
we learn from other sources that
Stuart originally gained his livelihood
by painting fans. Maintaining its pros
perity till toward the commencement Of the
present century, fan-making then began to
decline, and finally collapsed on the re-
moval of the protective duties as a part of
the system offree-trade. About 20 years
since an Influential member of the Fan
makers company presented to each of his
fellow members commemorative fan; and
though the corporation Is maintained, there
does not now remain single fan-maker in
London.
VARIOUS EUROPEAN FANS.
Throughout the eighteenth century the
French successfully maintained their SUI.
premacy in the manufacture. But early
in that century fans of good pretensions
were made in Italy, Spain, Holland, Ger
many, and also, as has been shown in Eng
land. The Italian fan was often finely
painted after some NEUROLOGICAL or sacred
subject Of one of the great native masters,
and had simple and appropriate stick;
the Spanish fan, richly eoiored, represented
some incident of gallantry or love,
the stick Of mother-of-pearl, gaily
carved and gilt; the small Dutch ivory fan
of the end of. the seventeenth century,
beautifully painted by one of the masters Of
the low countries, we're frequently imported
into Paris, and decorated in Vernis Martin
were greatly esteemed; the German fan
clearly possessed a marked nationality, with
its painted, and sometimes ingeniously-
carved ivnFV stick while tha HnrIfah fan nf !