The invention of the folding-fan is generally credited to the ingenious little inhabitants of the land of the rising sun; its date, however, as well as its precise character, is impossible to determine with anything approaching to accuracy. Tradition says that it was designed by an artist who lived in the reign of the Emperor Jen-ji, about 670 A.D., and was formed upon the principle of the construction of a bat’s wing, this being in conformity with the general usage of Japanese designers, who derived their artistic _motifs_ from natural constructive forms. The date of its introduction into China is also a matter of considerable uncertainty: we have a reference to it in a Chinese work of the date 960, to the effect that the tsin-theou-chen, or folding-fan, was introduced by Tchang-ping-hai, and was supposed to be offered as a tribute by the barbarians of the south-east, who came, holding in their hands the pleated fan, which occasioned much laughter and ridicule. All Chinese authors agree, however, that it was the invention of foreigners, _i.e._ the Japanese, who, together with the Tartars, possessed folding-fans before they were known in China.[40] [Illustration: Chinese Fan, paper mount, painted & richly gilt, red lacquered stick. Miss Moss.] M. Rondot records the fact that at first, only courtesans made use of folding-fans, honest women carried round screens.[41] Since the appearance of the folding-fan, various materials have been pressed into its service, including ivory, tortoise-shell, lacquer, mother of pearl, the various woods—especially sandalwood, the more precious metals, silk, skin, and paper. No nation possesses a keener appreciation of ivory as a vehicle for artistic expression than the Chinese, whose carved balls in concentric spheres of open work are the wonder of western peoples. Ivory fans date from a very remote period, it is believed as early as 990 B.C., and are marvels of patient ingenuity. The Imperial Ivory Works within the palace at Peking was founded toward the close of the seventeenth century, and became the centre for the best production in this delicate material. Ivory fans are either of pierced flat open work, or elaborately carved with subjects, the backgrounds of which are formed by delicate ribbing, imparting a lightness and softness to the fan not obtainable by any other means. An extraordinarily skilful example is the cockade-fan in the Wyatt collection at South Kensington; this, together with several others in the same collection, have monograms in cursive European characters, and were executed to the order of Europeans. In each instance the blades are connected by means of a ribbon running through the whole. One example only of these fans is given; that bearing the word ‘Angela’—fitting name of the gentle lady whose memory is revered wherever the English language is spoken.