In Perfumery and Kindred Arts (1877, p. 155) Richard S. Cristiani writes that this "Chinese skin powder" consists of "a sort of magnesian earth in impalpable powder, very absorbent to all secretions of the skin." Tung meen fun, by the way, is wheat starch flour, used in Chinese and Malaysian cooking.
The advertisement is from the Ladies' Guide to New York (1885). Richard M. Hobbs and his partner Mr. Fabian had been selling Meen Fun in New York at least since 1846 (the second advertisement, below, dates from 1845, so the 1846 date in the law suit must be wrong). Hobbs sued Ellenora Francais (or Francis) in 1860, for selling Meen Fun in England. Hobbs and Fabian also sold Meen Fun in England, as being "patronized by her Majesty the Queen" and as:
'MEEN FUN,' the Celebrated Chinese Skin Powder for Restoring, Beautifying, and Preserving the Skin and Complexion, Preventing Cutaneous Eruptions, Chapping, and Obviating too Copious Perspiration. Adapted for all Climates. Fabian & Co., Sole Proprietors, 24 Mark Lane, London. [Quoted in Treatise on the Law of Trade-marks and Analogous Subjects, William Henry Browne, 2nd ed. 1885, p. 494]
Ellenora Francais also sold Meen Fun in England with a similar label. Hobbs "claimed the exclusive right to use the words 'Meen Fun' as the name of his article, as he invented and first adopted it ["Another Trade Mark Case," New York Times, Sept. 27, 1860]Meen Fun was widely used for many years. In 1863, a story for ladies in Harper's New Monthly Magazine shows some girls fixing up a friend of theirs to look like a marble statue in a tableau vivant :
Two boxes of Meen Fun were brought, a piece of flannel and of cotton stocking. A girl on each side powdered vigorously at poor Emma's face and neck and arms...I acknoweledged to myself that it was a very neat effect to be produced by one pair of sheets and two boxes of meen Fun..."Perfect!" I heard a voice behind me say. "It's the most perfect thing I ever saw in my life!" ["Tableaux Vivans [sic]," Harper's New Monthly Magazine, vol. 27, 1863, p. 703]
Poor Emma, indeed.
[The second Meen Fun ad is from the English publication The Lancet in 1845. I couldn't find one of Ellenora Francis' ads, but if I do I'll edit the post.]
*****
There's a book review coming up in the near future here, by the way (of a really excellent oral history of the Titanic) and otherwise - I am contemplating the possibility of starting a new blog to support my writing...or else transforming VDM into a Victorian ads blog (which, in a way, it already is - only there is so much else in it too, and the name VDM does not seem quite right to me anymore). I'll let you know, in any case.
5 comments:
Fascinating
Supposing M'lady was a celiac?
wow.. how did you remove it after wearing it ? if you mixed water and oil you could end up a true pie face. yikes !
It sounds like the powder the 16th and 17th century women wore at Versailles. Very odd.
Thank you for this post. I saw a piece of sheet music titled "Meen Fun Waltz" this weekend at a historic home, and we were puzzled as to what it meant. The cover art is of a little girl using a powder puff and your post solved the mystery. Thanks!
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