The Redwood gazette. [volume] (Redwood Falls, Minn.) 1873-1940, 1878-05-30
Origin and Evolution Of Fans.

Origin and Evolution Of Fans.
THE fundamental idea of the fan is
said to have been hit upon great many
centuries ago at a certain Feast of Lam
terms, where the beautiful Kan-si,
daughter of an eminent Mandarin,
found herself 50 hot that, contrary to
all etiquette, she was obliged to take off
her mask with which-partly to hide
her bushes, partly to cool her heated
face-she commenced upon herself the
process which we now call tanning"
The action was seen and admired by
KANSAS young companions, and at
once. says the narrator of this truthful
legend, 10000 hands agitated 10000
masks" Other writer's have discov-
cred the origin of the fan in the neces-
sity felt in all hot countries for keeping
off flies,. whether from sacred offerings
in the temples or from the hands and
faces Of the officiating priests, or from
the persons of the population generally.
In India and China the original model
of the fan is said to have been the wing
of bird; and an admirable fan can al
ways be made from two birds wings,
joined by strip of wood. The fan of
the High Priests of Isis was in the form
of half-circle, made of feathers of
different lengths. Such, too, were the
fans carried in triumphal professions,
and which among the Egyptians served
as military standards in time of war.
The Sibyls are said to have been in the
habit of tanning themselves as they de-
livered their oracles-the fan being evil
IDENTIFY not regarded in those days as in
any way connected with frivolity.
The fans carried by the Roman Ia
dies were not, like the most ancient
Chinese fans, made in one piece,
whether of paper, gauze. or silk, but
were composed of little tablets of per-
fumed wood. The ladies of high fash
ion were followed when they went out
walking by fan-bearers or fabeilifere,
and guests of both sexes were famed
at dinner by slaves charged with that
particular duty. The earliest reference
to fans ON the part of classical author
occurs in Euripides' tragedy of Hell
ena," where one of the characters, q
eunuch, relates how, according to the
Phrygian custom, he has famed the
Hull, AssC0 ssAu OOoOA VI Iu0 UchuIAu
heroine.
The fans of the Middle Ages were in
good society worn suspended from the
girdle by chains of gold, and were
usually made of feathers; those of the
peacock, ostrich. parrot and pheasant
being preferred. They were sold in
large numbers at the markets of the
Levant, whence they were sent direct
to Venice, and from Venice to other
parts of Italy. The fan is said to have
been introduced in France by Catharine
de Medicis, where it was quickly adopt
ed not only by women but by effeminate
men. Thus Henry ILLS notorious
minions habitually carried fans. I'm
der Louis XIV. and XIV. the art of
painting ornamented fans was brought
to great perfection. Among the cele-
brated painters who have not disdained
to employ their talents in the artistic
decoration of the fan, Vatican and
his successor, Boucher, must first be
named. In our own time Diaz, the
great colorist; Eugene Lami. chiefly
known by his marine pictures; Hamon,
the painter of scenes from ancient Ro-
man life; and Gavarni, celebrated as q
caricaturist, but who has exercised his
talent in almost every style of pictorial
art, have all painted fans. The most
famous sculptor and decorator of
fans in the present day is Froment-
Meurice, generally known as gold
smith and jeweler, but who is in fact
a great artist. The French Fan-Mak-
ers' Company was established by edict
in 1883, when to be received into the
guild or corporation it was declared
necessary to have served four years.
apprenticeship, and to have produced .
masterpiece" The masterpiece,
however, was not required of the sons
Of lawmakers, nor of apprentices who
had married lawmakers daughters.
A great number of processes are en-
ployed in fan-making. The frame has
to be cut, shaped, polished, trimmed,
engraved, inlaid, painted, gilded and
riveted. The web has to be printed,
gummed, colored and retouched. Yet
after passing through so many hands
fans can be sold in Paris at one sou
apiece. This is the lowest possible fig
ure; the highest quotations, except in
special cases, as where the talents of q
great painter are called into requisition,
being $4OO. Fans are broadly divided
into two classes, those consisting of one
web of paper or silk, and those which
are made up of several thin strips of
wood or other material. The former
are held to be the best for tanning, the
latter for shutting, or for the maneuver
known in the days of the Spectator as
flirting" the fan.
1t was during the reign of Elizabeth,
about the year of 1870. that fans were
first imported into England. They are
said to have been brought from Italy,
but probably reached England from
France, where they were brought into
fashion about 1860, by Catherine de
Medicis.-PaW Mall Gazette.
The Procurator of the Russian
Church has reported to the Emperor
that at the end of 1875 it had $500
churches, including cathedrals; 1880
chapels and oratOries; 98,8S arch
L