The cabriolet, introduced by Josiah Child in 1755, was a light two-wheeled carriage which obtained great popularity in Paris. Horace Walpole, writing to his friend Mann in the same year, says: ‘All we hear from France is, that a new madcap reigns there, as strong as that of Pantins was.[111] This is _la fureur de cabriolets_, Anglicè one-horse chairs, a mode introduced by Mr. Child. Everything is to be _en cabriolet_; the men paint them on their waistcoats, have them embroidered for clocks to their stockings, and the women, who have gone all the winter without anything on their heads, are now muffled up in great caps, with round sides, in the form of, and scarce less than, the wheels of chaises.’ Two varieties of these rare fans appear in different collections; a larger and richer fan measuring some twenty inches and opening out to a little more than a third of a circle, the sticks numbering twenty-one, including the panaches; another about an inch smaller, with less carving on the sticks, and made at a later date. [Illustration: ‘Cabriolet’ Fan, stick ivory, painted, leaf paper. Lady Northcliffe.] [Illustration: ‘Cabriolet’ Fan, stick ivory, finely carved, painted & gilt. The Dowager Marchioness of Bristol.] [Illustration: ‘Cabriolet’ Fan, stick ivory, carved and painted. The Dowager Marchioness of Bristol.] The fine example illustrated from the collection of Lady Bristol has nine cabriolets, two on the larger and three on the smaller paper mounts, two on the brins, and two on the panaches. The upper portion of the ivory stick is carved with three series of three figures enclosed in an ornamental setting, and one on each panache, with ‘goldfish’ inlay. The lower portion has two large cartouches of figure subjects also with ‘goldfish’ inlay, and a smaller one painted, the whole of the stick elaborately painted and gilt. A similar fan is in the possession of the Comtesse de Chambrun, Paris, and was exhibited at South Kensington in 1870. Two examples of the smaller variety are given from the collections of Lady Northcliffe and Lady Bristol, similar in general character, but presenting slight differences in detail. On each of these fans only one cabriolet appears, painted decoration taking the place of the rich carving and gilding on the stick of the larger fan.