Painted pleats: A History of European fan printing

Jacob Moss: The fan is a curious and complicated article combining utility with artistry. It is a weapon of seduction; it is portable art; it is a fashion statement – hard to categorise, but perfectly described by one particularly enthusiastic 18th-century writer as ‘the noblest invention of the human mind’! From a historical and cultural perspective, it’s significance cannot be underestimated. In East Asia, for example, where both men and women continue to use fans, they function in all sorts of ways beyond practical: given as celebratory gifts at weddings and births; used in Noh Theatre and Chinese Opera; even Samurai warriors and Sumo officials used fans. Today, in the West, fans no longer retain the sort of popularity achieved in the 18th century. They are generally thought of in terms of their functionality, whereas in the past they operated as lavish symbols of status, of wealth, refined taste, learnedness, even political leanings. There is so much we can learn from these objects; when we open an antique fan, we are literally unfurling history.

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