And the spyglass Cane?
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And, as we had a sabre Cane, why not Cane like rifle or like
spyglass as the Directoire had been the spyglass era. Or as well the Cane fan,
which fits into the handle, the Cane face-à-main, the Cane stiletto, a
sting that ejects roughly out of an insignificant knob and make the bandit draw
back.
But also and certainly less bellicose, the flute stick, that
comes from Austria. Each one have a whale of a time in inventions that delight
the eccentrics by the surprises that these small mechanisms have in store for
them. The Oh! The Ah! Such admiration is worth the price that must be paid for
it. |
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Spyglass cane of incroyable ,
gnarled in twisted
wood. |
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Spyglass
made of ivory, mounted on a high Cane of Incroyable. |
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So, the spyglass not only conceal in fans; they were also
introduced into golden crutches or into tortoiseshell or Saxe porcelain
handles, which crown the handles of the Canes or umbrella, as we learn from
H.R. d'Allemagne (Paris, Grund Editeur, 1930).
From the Directoire on, the spyglass will be extremely popular.
The Incroyable's Cane was of course eccentric. Some of them added the spyglass.
Incroyables and Merveilleuses will use it with the excess that is their
signature. |
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"Nowadays, many theater- and opera-goers depend on binoculars to
see the performance. Previously, they used either a lorgnette (from the French
lorgner, which means to spy or peep) or a one-eyed spyglass"
"At the theater, the spyglasses were aimed more at the
spectators in the audience that at the actors on the stage. Thus, as the goal
was to gape discreetly, the spyglass mounted on a walking stick was at the eye
level of the seated spectator."
"During the same epoch, small spyglasses were inserted in fans,
snuffboxes and bottles as well." |
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The same Cane, the spyglass unmounted. |
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This is what explains Catherine Dike, in her book "Cane curiosa, from gun to
gadget". She adds the following:
"Fashion took an abrupt change during the five years transitional period
between the French Revolution's and the Napoleon's accession to power (1795 -
1799) - called the Directoire. The reactionary tendency showed up in the
audacious dress of the Incroyable and Merveilleuses" ... "An accessory for
these French dandies was a heavy gnarled cane often with a spyglass on
top." |
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