The example which formed part of the royal collection at Windsor Castle is so well known that it scarcely needs description here. It consists of a large number of cartouches of classical and pastoral subjects divided by gold borderings. It formerly belonged to Marie-Antoinette, and was procured for Her Majesty Queen Victoria by the Queen of the Belgians. The fan representing the ‘Toilette of Madame la Marquise de Montespan,’ and ‘the Promenade,’ in the possession of the Countess Duchâtel, has become historic. It was sent by Madame de Sévigné to her daughter, Madame de Grignan, and is thus referred to in her 149th letter: ‘My fan has then become most useful, doubtless. Do you not think it beautiful? Alas, what a bagatelle! You would not take away from me this small pleasure when occasion presents itself—you would thank me for that pleasure, although it is a mere nothing.’ We are enabled, by the courtesy of Mr. Leopold de Rothschild, to illustrate (facing p. 142) one of the best-preserved examples of this interesting type of fan. The subject represents a company of musicians in a garden, with trellised background and fountain; on the lower cartouche a classical landscape; on the panaches are figures of Harlequin, Pierrot, etc., the ornamental portions being painted with the most minute finish. Upon the death of the elder Martin in 1749, his widow associated herself with her brother-in-law, Julien Martin, who was acquainted with the secrets of this varnish and method. The studio at the entrance to the Faubourg Saint-Denis, therefore, did not cease to prosper, and production went on until 1758. This at least we learn of the engraver Pasquier, and it seems to us that the most successful varnishes are the earliest in date—those which appear to have been produced 1720-1745.[109] The foregoing quotation refers to Martin’s productions generally, but is equally applicable to the fan, and it is probable that although a few isolated examples of these delicate objects may have been produced during the latter years of the reign of Louis XIV., production did not become very general until later in the lifetime of Martin the elder, who subsequently received the title of ‘Vernisseur du roi.’