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Show f TKe Evolution of the Fan- ! IM , imo 1 SB the days when the WBTtonrdens supreme. Of course II 'ftl tons of one kind or another vc been used In nil hot WW' ,rla from the earliest time, and rlfefthe summer season In our own zone theso wind wafters IPffo Sateful commission. The . ?Bce Jir decorates her summer rooms MrjeWt a iLty trifles and lays them '' artlessly artful fashion for !;W Start of her family and guests, Wn the I prosaic business office the ''X Me fan brings comfort. Iw t leaC two centuries the fan ' iJILn one of the most delightful ac-lw" ac-lw" rfu of the feminine toilet, and my ''IK!, latest fad is to mako a collection 'fjlpoflese and French fans The . fm ' collector muot be able to llfirv the oriental fan and know the . iVKr.lt forms of etiquette expressed ' If the' Japanese affair, otherwise she Ei tsik learnedly of her seventeenth Enry examples when the rcirjn of J' K:i little piece of coquetry really bc-I' bc-I' WT lc France. It 1b an Interesting I Hr this evolution of the fan, even I Inn ' e Is ot a collector. China has I.' ijvf called" the fatherland of the fan. 7Ji Kithire is Pretty mythological ori- I'Atobc found In a charming Spanish "S Ktsd" whlch runs as followe: As $f!?fltie was sleeping ono day on a lWW'iteXot flowers Zephyr kept hovering , fther. After a time jealous Cupid Ikuo's offense and as a punishment jLliftcfcd oft one oI ZePh"r'3 w,nes and Jtoljrs " 10 Pa'che that she m,e,lt ever ilirlfeftiMoIlnff breezes. b'MT&e Ib no doubt that tho first fan WflrvtC cooled a fevered brow" was a ttt Kfjgc or.palm leaf, and this most coni-! coni-! i I'pca of 'all the, varieties, the palm, is f9f nunufactured in Immense quan-Dt' quan-Dt' litiiia i" China, especially at Canton If Kaiikin. At these places fans of ' "pat clesaiice are also produced from '.' I (flt sandalwood, tortoise shell and i '$wr. Chinese fans are usually richly r. 'orred. Some of ivory are pierced with i'vW and animals or minutely carved i(iith a lace pattern In delicate open-i open-i ltric Others have only the stlck3 and -i rjwrils of Ivor', while on the body, taiikh is of silk, are painted in the b'l Jbil brilliant hues groupB of figures ' J gnirrelouEly attired. t J in Persia, Egypt, Greece and Rome Kin were in early use. The Egyptians h rourlei a peculiar arrangement made jf'i 'cf a bird's wing extended, while in i fcrttce the round peacock feather fan peared in public wafting thin tablets of sandalwood, and a lurid light Js cast on the cuatomB of the middle ages Jn Italy by the fact that' several dainty fan3 are preserved with a concealed dagger in the handle of each. The fan first made its appearance in England In the reign of Richard II., and the virgin queen, the fair Elizabeth, is said to have owned no leas than twenty- flutter, the tlmorouw flutter. th- merry flutter and the amorous flutter. There is aenrco any- emotion of the mind which does- not produce a suitable agitation of tho fan. 1 have seen a fan so very angry that It would have been dangerous for tho absent lover who provoked It to come within wind of It and at other tlmca 60 languishing that I have been glad for the lady's sake that the lover was at a certain cer-tain distanco from it. 1 The period at which Addison wrote these charming lines was a time of intrigue, in-trigue, of powder, iougo and patches, and no lady's toilet was really mado without her elegant fan,' lace handkerchief hand-kerchief and vinalgret. The English fans of tho eighteenth century are of exquisite workmanship. One favorlto decoration Is of medallions represent--ing classical groups of figures watching watch-ing doves. The coloring is after Angelica Angel-ica Kauffman, and much of tho work was doubtless done by this celebrated artist. T'he folding fan was introduced into Franco by Catherine do Medici, and this valuable auxiliary of woman reached Its height in the region of Louis XIV. In the hands of the powdered pow-dered duchesses and marquises of the old rcKlmei it was a weapon and a symbol. It 'had, like diplomats, a language lan-guage of its own, which was learned painted nSB m klPidcsmwy by every woman bofore she entered society. so-ciety. With It could be expressed a wish, a promise, a refusal or a pardon. In the fans of this period historical and allegorical subjects aro mostly depicted. depict-ed. A charming fan gem represents Mine. Valerie ln a fantastic garden receiving re-ceiving the homage of Renown, Victory Vic-tory and Poetry. The slicks of these fans are long, usually of Ivory or mother-of-pearl, elaborately carved and gilded, lapping each other no they make a single piece When opened. The decoration of fans has always1' proved fascinating to French artists, and such masters as Fragonard, Boucher, Bou-cher, Wattoau and Lancretj did not consider the painting of lovely figures oh tho dainty weapons as beneath their dignity. In the Louis XIV. period they were beautifully finished by tho four Martin brothers with a bright varnish which gave the painting an ap- seven fans, ono handsome specimen costing 5200, a largo sum ln those days. Elizabeth originated the custom that the only gift a queen could receive was a fan, and truly worthy of royalty's acceptance were these offerings, whose sticks were mad of mother-of-pearl or gold and sliver studded with pearls, rubies and other precious gems. During the eighteenth century fans were in general use, and no woman, whatever her station, considered her costume complete unless a fan of some kind dangied at her girdle. It was at this period that Addison wrote his famous fa-mous essay on the fan, a little piece of writing said to contain a deeper Insight In-sight Into the frivolities, character and foibles of a woman than a modern novel. nov-el. To quote a line or two of this essay es-say which Is typical: There Is an Infinite variety of motions to be mndc use of in the llutter of a fan pearanco of enamel, which is known even to the present day as the "Vernls-Martin." "Vernls-Martin." The decadenco of the fan begins with the Louis XVI. rolgn, and the golden age of this fragile toy ends In France with tho revolution. These elegant little lit-tle silk and satin toys savored of aristocratic aris-tocratic tendencies, so fans were made 'of coarse material and printed with devices such as "Mort ou Liberie!" and "Vivo la France!" A fan of this time is especially prized in collections where mere beauty ls not the sole desideratum. desider-atum. With the empire the fan regained re-gained some of its old delicacy and refinement and once moro became fashionable, the Napoleonic victories suggesting many subjects. Japan, the land of tho fan, affords a fascinating field for the collector, and ln that country It ls an article of dally use and numerous duties. It is wielded alike by man and woman, prince and plowboy. In the kitchen it Is customary cus-tomary to fan the lire with a fan, and in the street it J3 waved ln salutation or greeting. The successful Japanese generals are today directing the movements move-ments of their troops with long handled han-dled fans. On Important occasions such as at present exist ln this little island, is-land, upon .which all eyes are turned, libels and political caricatures arc transmitted on them, and ln the nursery nurs-ery the niirDe wafts the fan to and fro to keep off the Insects and lull her charge to sleep. The clever little Japanese Jap-anese havo tile honor of inventing the first collapsible or folding fans in about 750 A. D. Who, though, can wield the fascinating fascinat-ing fan so successfully as the Spanish donna? Disraeli eays in the land of Spain the fan speaks a particular language, lan-guage, and gallantry requires no other mode to express Its most subtle conceits con-ceits than through U1I3 delicate machine. ma-chine. Still the Spanish beauty's fan does not compare Jn artistic merit with the fans of Franco and UnglnncL The distinctively American fan 13 yet to be evolved. German fans arc brilliant in coloring, though somewhat heavy in technique. The genius of the art of Holland "reflects "re-flects itself ln fan painting. The subjects sub-jects are generally miniature sea vlcw3 or quaint little bits showing blue canals, ca-nals, with fishing boats and old world I vessels. ! 'Fans are made of many kinds of materials, ma-terials, among them satin, silk, chicken chick-en skin, pupor (printed or painted), laco, gauzo and inualln, spangled and worked. - The sticks in years gone by, when artist and artisan labored for love and not for gain alone, wero things of eleganco and beauty, but the machine ma-chine made sticks of today are in most cases very good Imitations. Miniature fan painting ls an art that Is being revived, nnd a number of women wo-men aro making a specialty of it. The fAn, which has held its sway for many centuries, is likely to continue indefinitely indefi-nitely in vogue among women of fash-Ion, fash-Ion, both as a useful and coquettish weapon and as a dainty object for tho collector's cabinet. GRACE GRISCOM. |