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A BRIEF HISTORY OF FANS |
Early
History
Few art forms combine functional,
ceremonial and decorative uses as elegantly as the fan. Fewer
still can match such diversity with a history stretching back at
least 3,000 years.
Pictorial records of the earliest
fans date from around 3000 BC and there is evidence that the Greeks,
the Etruscans and Romans all used fans as cooling and ceremonial
devices, while Chinese literary sources associate the fan with ancient
mythical and historical characters.
Early fans were all of the fixed
type, and the folding fan does not appear either in the East or
the West until relatively late in its history.
The first folding fans were inspired
by and copied from prototypes brought in to Europe by merchant traders
and the religious orders who had set up colonies along the coasts
of China and even Japan. These early fans were reserved for
Royalty and the nobility and, as expensive toys, they were regarded
as a status symbol. Whiles their "montures" (i.e.
sticks and guards) were made from materials such as ivory, mother
of pearl and tortoiseshell, often carved and pierced and ornamented
with silver, gold and precious stones, the leaves were well painted
by craftsmen who gradually amalgamated into guilds. |
Fans
in the 18th and 19th Centuries
By the 18th century
fans were being made throughout Europe, while at the same time,
fans imported from China by the East India Companies were ever popular.
By the
end of the eighteenth century with the cheaper printed ones in production,
fans were available to every strata of society in Europe and
related to an endless variety of subjects- from Nelson's Victory
of the Nile to instructions on "How to play Whist, and not
lose your temper!" In the nineteenth century (with its
early political turmoil), fans again reflected the times in the
small brisé horn fans so popular in the 1820's. Arguably
the most lavish fans date from the second half of the century. Artists
who painted these fans were often fashionable painters of their
day who signed their work. On the other hand, the Impressionists,
for example, who did not reflect popular taste and painted fans,
never made their designs into “wearable” objects. |
Fans
in the 20th Century
Fans again mirrored the social and economical
times in the twentieth century, with the rise of advertising and
a more utilitarian and wasteful society. Today, in Europe, only
in Spain is the fan part of everyday life, as it still remains in
most hot countries, particularly in the Far East, and especially
in Japan.
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| Discover more about the fascinating
world of fans by visiting The Fan Museum, where a new exhibition can
be viewed every four months. The Practical
Information page contains details of how to get to The Fan Museum. |
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