During the earlier part of the reign of Louis XIII., Anne of Austria, his queen, introduced many Spanish fashions into France, amongst them being fans. It is recorded of this princess that, during a conference with Richelieu, some kittens amused themselves with the ribbons of her fan which had been left on a table in the antechamber; from this circumstance the ribbons acquired the name of Badins (playful).[103] It was from a similar light incident that, later, at the time of the unpopularity of Mazarin, the fan became a means of expressing political intrigue. Straw was adopted as the rallying sign of the Frondeurs, who, after the victory in Paris, wore it in their hats and button-holes. [Illustration: Hector & Andromache, after Coypel, French, gouache on skin stick ivory finely carved with an eastern subject, guards set with plaques of agate, & paste jewels; a watch at rivet. The Dowager Marchioness of Bristol.] ‘If without straw a man was seen, Strike him down! was the general scream, For ‘tis but a dog of a Mazarine.’ A great crowd was applauding the king and princess in the great allée, and crying out against Mazarin. Mademoiselle had appeared holding a fan as she walked, to which was attached a bouquet of straw bound with blue ribbon. Straw also formed part of the decoration of fans, both at this period and later. The pattern of leaves, flowers, fruits, or conventional ornament, was cut in various coloured straws and _applied_. The handsome fan in the possession of Lady Bristol, with the subject of Hector and Andromache, after Antoine Coypel, belonging, however, to a later period, is decorated at the sides with coloured straw-work. This material was even employed in the decoration of the stick in the form of inlay upon ivory and other substance; an example occurs in the collection of Mr. L. C. R. Messel. This also of a much later period. D’Alembert, in his _Réflexions et Anecdotes sur la Reine de Suède_, recounts how the irascible, fierce, and railing daughter of Gustavus Adolphus found herself at the court of Louis XIV., when the fashion of fans was general (1656-1657). Consulted by a fair Frenchwoman as to whether she should ply her fan even during the winds of winter, Christina replied that the lady might fan herself or not, as she pleased; either way she would be a straw blown about by the wind. Upon this, the court dames, nettled at the rude reply of the haughty mistress of Monaldeschi, one and all armed themselves with fans, and waved them furiously whenever the queen was present, by way of exhibiting a wholesome French contempt for northern barbarism.[104]