History of the FanRhead, G. Woolliscroft (George Woolliscroft)
History
History of the Fan
Rhead, G. Woolliscroft (George Woolliscroft)
Fans
A fan, also manufactured by Alexandre and painted by Moreau, was
exhibited in 1870 by Madame Maurice Richard (au Ministère des
Beaux-Arts, Paris). The vellum mount has for centre a medallion, with
the initials ‘H. R.’ (Hélène Richard) surmounted by two doves. On
either side are medallions with figures emblematic of Sculpture and
Music, Poetry and Painting, painted _en camaïeu_ on a gold ground by
Moreau. On the reverse, in a medallion, the Genius of the Arts awarding
wreaths to Sculpture, Architecture, Painting, Music, and Poetry. The
ivory stick, carved and pierced in the style of the sixteenth
century, is also painted by Moreau, with medallions of seraphs playing
musical instruments, and supporting emblems of the arts they represent;
the guards bearing the initials ‘H. R.’ in gold.
[Illustration: The Meet. by Charles Detaille.
M. J. Duvelleroy.]
Many fans bearing Moreau’s signature have mounts of lace, the ivory
stick being minutely painted with medallions of figure subjects near
the handle end, usually three subjects enclosed in an ornamental
setting. An excellent example is given from the collection at the
Victoria and Albert Museum. M. Duvelleroy (of Regent Street) also has
a fan arranged on similar lines; another, in the possession of Mr. G.
J. Rosenberg, was exhibited at Karlsruhe in 1891, both the last named
being made by Alexandre.
This leads us to the important subject of lace mounts. The use of this
delicate material for the fan, especially suited by its lightness and
daintiness, has been revived during recent years.
A lace fan having in the centre the word ‘Elena,’ surmounted by a royal
crown, was made at Burano and presented to Queen Elena of Italy on her
marriage in 1896. In Devonshire, also, lace mounts have been made; in
the Paris Exhibition of 1900 appeared a fan with a coat of arms in the
centre, in which Miss Trevelyan adapted an Italian design to the old
Honiton stitches, illustrated by Mrs. Bury Palliser in her work on Lace.
Fans have been, and are, a feature of the Youghal lace industry,
established by the sisterhood of the Presentation Convent, county Cork,
the oldest of the many that have sprung up under the fostering care
of the Irish nuns, and dating back to the dark times of 1847, when
famine decimated the rural population of the south and west of Ireland.
The designs are in each instance furnished by the sisters, who are
qualified under the Board of Education.
The Irish flat needle-point of Youghal, though doubtless derived in
the first instance from foreign sources, may be said to have developed
into a purely native art, capable of well holding its own against any
contemporary foreign work.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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