During the last half of the sixteenth century, doubtless, the general proportion of the fan was that of a fourth of a circle. Alex. Fabri, 1593, gives the costume of the French ladies of his time and of older date, and observes that these ladies held fans of a quarter circle plissés. Vecellio, 1600, gives fans of a similar proportion. These were both brisé and leaf; the fans of Ferrara, decorated with mica insertion, were also of this shape. At this same period, fans were also made of a slightly extended width, the Actæon fan of Cluny being an example. [Illustration: 1550] [Illustration: 1550-1620] [Illustration: 1620-1650] [Illustration: 1660-1700] [Illustration: 1680-1740] [Illustration: 1720-1760] [Illustration: 1780] The width was gradually extended during the first half of the seventeenth century, until, at the close of the reign of Louis XIII., it had attained almost a full semicircle, the engraved fans of Abraham Bosse being authentic instances. During the reign of the Grand Monarque the mount is deep, the shoulder, as a consequence, low; the fan, after a slight reduction, again opening out to a full semicircle. The blades, which in the first half of the seventeenth century varied in France from four to eighteen, had increased by the end of the century to twenty-four or twenty-six, the number again falling to between eighteen to twenty-one by the middle of the succeeding century. During the reign of Louis XV. the width of the fan was lessened, being reduced to one-third of a circle, the shoulder being raised about 1720, thus leaving less space for the mount, the blades numbering eighteen to twenty-two. [Illustration: Cephalus & Aurora, French. Mrs Bischoffsheim.] [Illustration: ‘Vernis Martin.’ Mrs F. R. Palmer.] In the succeeding reign (Louis XVI.) the fan once again unfolded itself to a full semicircle; the blades were either straight and narrow, the incrustations of a correspondingly reticent character, or very broad, showing no space between, the decorations extremely ornate; their number in either instance varying from twelve to sixteen or eighteen. The above scale of proportion is, however, by no means absolute; we have fans with high shoulders, and correspondingly shallow mounts during the period of Louis XIV.; we also have, during the same period, fans which open out only to the third of a circle. The _size_ of the folding-fan has also been subject to many variations. From the period of its introduction it increased under Louis XIV., fluctuated to the middle of the eighteenth century, and gradually lessened its proportions to the period of the Revolution and First Empire.