These fans are characteristically Italian, certainly Italian in their origin. Their production, however, was by no means confined to Italy. M. Duvelleroy has a Dutch example with ivory stick carved _à jour_, the mount vellum, the subject on the obverse representing an embarkation with numerous figures, on the reverse a dance of peasants with musicians. (Illustration facing p. 192.) Neapolitan fans divide themselves into two distinct classes or groups—the first having a figure subject _en cartouche_ in the centre, usually taken from classic mythology, the field being occupied by that form of arabesque (grotteschi), so usual in Pompeian wall decoration. This class of mount dates from the re-discovery and unearthing of Pompeii in 1748, and its production was continued until the end of the century and later. Two excellent examples are given from the collection of Mrs. Bruce Johnston, formerly in the possession of Lord Bessborough. The one with the subject of Bacchus and Ariadne, from a fresco at Pompeii, bought in Naples by Lady Duncannon; the other of a sacrificial subject, also from a Pompeian fresco, obtained in the same city (in the eighteenth century) by Lady Ponsonby. Many of these mounts have, in lieu of a single central subject, several miniatures _en cartouche_, associated with arabesques similar in character to those above referred to. A good example appears in the Wyatt collection at South Kensington. In the second type of Neapolitan mounts, the field is similarly divided into panels, usually one superior and two inferior, representing views, generally the bay of Naples with Vesuvius in the distance, forming the centre panel, and Vesuvius in eruption, and a classic ruin on either side. These, with other Italian views, as the Colosseum in Rome, form a very large class; the panels being associated with arabesque or other ornaments. [Illustration: Piazza of St Mark, after Canaletto, skin mount, ivory stick finely carved with characters of the theatre &c. painted & gilt. Mr W. Burdett-Coutts. M.P.] Another, important class of Italian mounts gives a view of some famous building or place, occupying the whole field of the fan. Of this, no finer example could be given than the magnificent fan in the possession of Mr. W. Burdett-Coutts, M.P., of the Piazza of St. Mark’s, Venice, after Canaletto (Antonio Canal, b. 1687, d. 1768). The mount is skin; on the right is a group of performing acrobats surrounded by spectators; on the left some strolling players, with peregrinic theatre; on the reverse a view of Venice from the sea. The stick ivory, carved _à jour_, with characters of the pantomime, some being gilt and painted in ‘vernis Martin,’ others in the pure ivory; the guards carved with marks and musical trophies. These acrobats, one of the popular Venetian amusements of the period, appear in ‘A Fête on the Piazzetta,’ school of Canaletto, in the Wallace collection.