A curious and uncommon lorgnette-fan of the period of Louis XIV., in the possession of Madame Jubinal, is entirely of ivory ‘découpé à jour,’ with appliqués in gelatine imitating mica, forming a transparency through which roguish eyes may see and at the same time be protected as with a curtain. A semicircular lorgnette-fan, of fine design, is seen in the hands of Madame Devauçay, in the portrait by Ingres, collection of M. Frédéric Reiset, painted 1806. These interesting fans remained in vogue during the first quarter of the nineteenth century and later. The last stage of the fan during this foolish, frivolous, fascinating eighteenth century was that of a gradual dwindling into nothingness. Madame de Genlis, in her _Dictionary of Etiquette_ (1818), remarks: ‘When women were timid and blushed, they were accustomed to carry large fans to hide their blushes, serving at once as screen and veil: now that they blush no longer, and are intimidated by nothing, they do not choose to hide their faces, and therefore carry but microscopic fans (_éventails imperceptibles_).’[116] Blondel states that ‘this small degree of fashion continued under the First Empire, when fans, still very small, were for the most part brisés or garnished with taffalas; a few, however, were embellished with steel pearls, like the jewels of Petit Dunkerque.’ [Illustration: Spangled gauze with turtle doves. Blue & gold, spangled. Mr L.C.R. Messel. Mauve silk & net, spangled. lorgnette embroidered gauze.] We have seen how, during the period of the balloon petticoat, the fan, like the frog in the fable, anxious to outdo his big neighbour the ox, swelled—and swelled—and swelled. The consequences were less disastrous in the case of the fan, which is nothing if not consistent. The small imps of the fan tribe carried by those truly miraculous creatures the Merveilleuses, whose costume was reduced to such exceedingly scanty proportions that a Frenchman even was moved to inquire if nudity would not have been a gain to modesty, were in perfect keeping with the _tout ensemble_. The fan lessened its proportions, grew more and more imperceptible as the rest of the costume grew scantier, until, as in the example in the collection of Mr. L. C. R. Messel, the blades measured but two and a half inches! [Illustration: JAPANESE LADY’S COURT FAN, WITH STREAMERS. (Ethnological Museum, Berlin.)] CHAPTER VIII PAINTED FANS OF THE SEVENTEENTH AND EIGHTEENTH CENTURIES. ENGLISH, DUTCH, FLEMISH, AND GERMAN.