CHURCH FOLDING FAN, PERHAPS DUTCH. SIMPLE HAND-PAINTED
PAPER LEAF, MOUNTED “A' L'ANGLAISE”. IVORY STICKS, WITH “BATTOIRE”
GUARDS, PROBABLY OF ORIENTAL MANUFACTURE. THE FRONT IS A FAITHFUL
REPRESENTATION OF GENESIS'S CHAPTERS N. 18 AND 21:
“As he sat in the tent door in the heat of the
day,Abraham lifted up his eyes and looked, and saw that three men stood
opposite him. When he saw them, he ran to meet them from the tent door,
and bowed himself to the earth, and said, "My lord, if now I have found
favor in your sight, please don't go away from your servant. Now let a
little water be fetched, wash your feet, and rest yourselves under the
tree. I will get a morsel of bread so you can refresh your heart. After
that you may go your way, now that you have come to your servant." They
said, "Very well, do as you have said."
Abraham hurried into the tent to Sarah, and said, "Quickly make ready
three measures of fine meal, knead it, and make cakes." Abraham ran to
the herd, and fetched a tender and good calf, and gave it to the
servant. He hurried to dress it. He took butter, milk, and the calf
which he had dressed, and set it before them. He stood by them under the
tree, and they ate. They said to him, "Where is Sarah, your wife?” He
said, "See, in the tent." He said, "I will certainly return to you when
the season comes round. Behold, Sarah your wife will have a son." Sarah
heard in the tent door, which was behind him. Now Abraham and Sarah were
old, well advanced in age. Sarah became pregnant and bore Abraham a son
in his old age, at the set time that God had stated. Abraham gave the
name Isaac to this son of his whom Sarah bore him. When his son Isaac
was eight days old, Abraham circumcised him, as God had commanded.
Abraham was a hundred years old when his son Isaac was born to him.
Sarah then said, "God has given me cause to laugh, and all who hear of
it will laugh with me. Who would have told Abraham," she added, "that
Sarah would nurse children! Yet I have borne him a son in his old age."
Isaac grew, and on the day of the child's weaning, Abraham held a great
feast. Sarah noticed the son whom Hagar the Egyptian had borne to
Abraham playing with her son Isaac; so she demanded of Abraham: "Drive
out that slave and her son! No son of that slave is going to share the
inheritance with my son Isaac!" Abraham was greatly distressed,
especially on account of his son Ishmael. But God said to Abraham: "Do
not be distressed about the boy or about your slave woman. Heed the
demands of Sarah, no matter what she is asking of you; for it is through
Isaac that descendants shall bear your name. As for the son of the slave
woman, I will make a great nation of him also, since he too is your
offspring." Early the next morning Abraham got some bread and a skin of
water and gave them to Hagar. Then, placing the child on her back, he
sent her away. As she roamed aimlessly in the wilderness of Beer-sheba,
the water in the skin was used up. So she put the child down under a
shrub, and then went and sat down opposite him, about a bowshot away;
for she said to herself, "Let me not watch to see the child die." As she
sat opposite him, he began to cry. God heard the boy's cry, and God's
messenger called to Hagar from heaven: "What is the matter, Hagar? Don't
be afraid; God has heard the boy's cry in this plight of his. Arise,
lift up the boy and hold him by the hand; for I will make of him a great
nation." Then God opened her eyes, and she saw a well of water. She went
and filled the skin with water, and then let the boy drink”.
THE THREE PERSONS (OR ANGELS) ARE ALSO REPRESENTING THE
TRINITY, AND THE DIFFERENT COLORS OF THE TUNICS MEAN: RED, THE SON,LOVE;
BLUE, THE FATHER,WISH; GOLD, THE HOLY SPIRIT,WISDOM. ON THE BACK, A
SHOOT OF ROSES. 1785 CA. CM.27,5 MAX SPREAD.CM.50,5.
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