The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1878-05-15
FANS.

FANS.
Origin of the Fan-Its; History, Ancient
| and Modern.
| The fundamental idea of the fan is
said to have been hit upon great many
centuries ago OF certain Feast of Lam
terms, where the beautiful Kan-si,
daughter of an eminent mandarin, found
herself 30 hot that, contrary to all eti-
quette, 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 pro-
cess which we now call "fanning." The
action was seen and admired by Kan-si's
Young companions; and at once, says
the narrator of this truthful legend,
"ten thousand hands agitated ten thou
sand masks" Others writers have dis
covered the origin of the fan in the
necessity 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 lave
been the wing of bird 4; and an ad-
mirable fan can always be made from
two birds wings, Joined by strip of
wood. The fan Of the high priests of
Isis was in the form of a 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 them
selves as they delivered their oracles
the fan being evidently not regarded
in those days as in any way connected
with frivolity.
The fans carried by the Roman ladies
were not, like the most ancient Chinese
fans, made in one piece, whether OF
paper, gauze, or silk, but were COM
posed of little tablets Of perfumed wood.
The ladies of high fashion we're followed
when they went out walking by fan
bearers or fabelktere; 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 "Helena," where
one of the characters, eunuch, relates
how, according to the Phrygian custom,
he has famed the hair, face, and bosom
of the beautiful heroine.
The fans of the Middle Ages were in
good society worn suspended from the
gridleby chains of gold, and were usual
" made of feathers those of the pea
cock, ostrich, parrot, and pheasant be-
ing 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 Catherine de Medicis,
where it was quickly adopted not only
by women, but also by efeminate men.
Under Louis XIV. and XIV. the art of
painting ornamental fans was brought
to great perfection. Among the cele-
brated painters who have not disdained
to employ their talents to 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 Rome
life ; and Gavarni, celebrated as a carl
caturist, 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 F'roment- -Meurice,
generally known as q goldsmith and
jeweler, but who is in fact great artist.
The French Fanmakers' Company was
established by edict in 1888, 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 mas :
terpiece, however, was not required OF
the sons of fanmakers, nor of appren-
tices who had married fanmakers'
daughters.
A great number of processes are en-
ployed in fan making. The frame has
to be cut, shaped, polished, trimmed,
graved, inlaid, painted, gilt, and rivetted.
The web has to be printed, gummed,
colored, and retouched. Yet after pass
ing through so many hands fans can be
sold in Paris at one sou apiece. This is
the lowest possible figure the highest
quotation, except in special cases, as
where the talents of great painter are
called into requisition, being$4OO. Fans
are broadly divided into two classes i;
those consisting of one web of paper or
silk, and those which are made up of
several thin strips of wood or other ma
terial. The former are held to be the
best for tanning, the latter for shutting
or for the maneuvre known in the days
of the "Spectator as flirting" the
fan.
In was during the reign of Elizabeth,
about the year 1870, that fans were first
imported into England. They are said
to have been brought from Italy, but
probably reached England from France,
where there were brought into fashion
oLo,,k I Se0 I1 Hofboriro 5a Modicia