The marriage of the dauphin with Maria Theresa of Spain (1745), or his second wife, Princess Maria Josephe de Saxe, is recorded on a magnificent mount representing the interior of a chapel, with the bride and bridegroom on a raised dais, a cardinal performing the ceremony. These three fans appeared in the Walker sale of 1882. The Battoir fan (illustrated facing p. 154) would appear to refer to this Spanish marriage; it is certainly a marriage fan. The feuille of paper is decorated with eight variously shaped medallions. In the centre the bride, who bears a sufficient resemblance to the engraved portraits of Maria Theresa, is taking tea; also a heart-shaped composition with two figures kneeling at the altar of Love, Father Time in the distance; a lover offering a bouquet to a lady, etc. The admirably designed stick and guards are of ivory, carved and gilt, decorated with emblematic figures, amorini, trophies of musical instruments, etc., bearing the fleurs de lys of France and the arms of Spain. The magnificent fan in the possession of Mrs. Bischoffsheim reflects the general interest taken in the classics during the earlier part of the eighteenth century. Dryden’s English translation of Virgil was given to the world in 1697, and the Latin edition of P. Masvicius, Leovardiae, 1717, contained the commentaries of Servius, Philargyrius, and Pierius. The fan belongs to the earlier years of the reign of Louis XV., and illustrates the story unfolded in the first book of the _Æneid_. On the reverse the storm raised by Æolus at the bidding of Juno, a rock in the foreground being inscribed ‘Naufrage d’Énée’: and the meeting of Venus and Æneas. On the obverse the banquet: ‘Embroidered coverlets Are laid, and gorgeous purple; and the boards Groan with the massive silver.’ The love-god, in the guise of the boy Ascanius, is presented to Dido: He—after he has clasped Æneas’ neck In fond embrace, and so has satisfied The doating love of his pretended sire— Turns to the Queen. Her eyes and all her soul She fixes on him; yea, and in her lap At times she fondles him—unhappy Dido— Not knowing how great a god is nestling there!’[110] The so-called ‘Cabriolet’ fan, introduced during the reign of Louis XV., represents a new and interesting development. In this the mount is divided into two parts, superior and inferior, the latter being half-way up the stick, the former in its usual place at the top; the intervening space imparting a lightness and richness to the fan not obtainable by other means, the mount still affording a sufficiency of space for decoration on a less extended scale. This usually consists of Parisian scenes—persons driving in cabriolets, or promenading, either painted or engraved as the case may be, since both processes were adopted.