The theme for “Smile on Saturday” for the 10th of July is “eyeglasses”, but the photo had to show the glasses without someone wearing them. A few weeks ago, for the “Looking Close on Friday” theme of “feathers”, I posted a photograph of one of my antique fans. I love to collect vintage and antique accessories. This includes antique fans, reticules, purses, gloves and I even have a few pairs of antique glasses, so when the theme was announced, I thought these might be a pleasantly different and unusual choice.
This Victorian lorgnette was made in Austria around the turn of the Twentieth Century. Very cleverly made, the lorgnette can easily be folded up to form a pendant monocle. The gold light caught in the glass on the left is the reflection of my pendant light overhead. With a silver and ebonised wood handle, I imagine that the Viennese owner quite enjoyed taking these with her to the city’s many theatres, not so she could watch the show on stage for which she had opera glasses, but so she could watch the fashion show of elegantly dressed ladies around her. Thus, I have placed the lorgnette against a backdrop of items she would have needed for an evening at the opera or the ballet: a pair of French elbow length white kid leather gloves with pearl buttons, a hand beaded reticule (the predecessor to a modern day purse) of white and cream beads and rhinestones, and a French ivory and lace fan hand embroidered with silver sequins.
My favourite fans are those from the Victorian and Edwardian era. Fans from these eras are extremely ostentatious and beautiful, but at such advanced age are often very fragile. This Ivory and lace fan is from the early 1900s. It features sparkling silver sequins made from thinly pressed metal which are hand sewn into a pattern on the lace net. The reticule is also from the first decade of the Twentieth Century and each bead has been hand sewn onto the fabric in a complex pattern using silk thread. Although small, it would probably have taken a lady two years to hand embroider in her spare time. It would have been an item to be worn with pride (yes worn as it has a wrist strap at the back which is just as ornately beaded), showing her fine skill as a needlewoman. The French kid gloves are still beautiful and soft, even though they are well over a century old. They are very clean and look like they were seldom worn, so I keep them well wrapped up in acid free paper to keep them clean when not on display.
