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| Fan - Rococo-revival garden scene France ca. 1900 gouache on silk, mother-of-pearl sticks Victoria & Albert Museum, London |
FAN – An instrument for agitating the air, to cool the face, etc. with an artificial breeze. A fan to be held in the hand. A common kind, and the one referred to in transferred senses relating to shape, is constructed so as to admit of being folded up in small compass, its form when unfolded being that of a sector of a circle.
1555 Richard Eden (translator). The Decades of the Newe Worlde or West India.
A fanne of golde and an Idole.
1599 Ben Jonson. Cynthia's Revels.
For the least feather of her bounteous fan.
1641 'Smectymnus' An Answer to a Booke entituled An Humble Remonstrance.
Their daughters walking in Cheapside with their fannes and farthingales.
1727 Jonathan Swift. Gulliver's Travels.
The ladies gave me a gale with their fans.
– definition and citations, Oxford English Dictionary
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| Fan - Classical scene Netherlands ca. 1670-1720 watercolor on paper, ivory sticks Victoria & Albert Museum, London |
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| Fan - Hector's farewell to Andromache England ca. 1730-50 gouache on paper, mother-of-pearl sticks Victoria & Albert Museum, London |
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| Fan - Pastoral scene France ca. 1760 gouache on vellum, mother-of-pearl sticks Victoria & Albert Museum, London |
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| Fan - Rococo-revival garden scene France ca. 1900 watercolor on silk, mother-of-pearl-sticks Victoria & Albert Museum, London |
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| Fan - Rococo-revival Fête champêtre France ca. 1870-90 gouache on paper, mother-of-pearl sticks Victoria & Albert Museum, London |
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| Fan - Chinoiserie scene-painting France 1760s watercolor on vellum, mother-of-pearl sticks Victoria & Albert Museum, London |
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| Fan - Chinoiserie scene-painting (detail) France 1760s watercolor on vellum, mother-of-pearl sticks Victoria & Albert Museum, London |
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| Fan - Hunting-scene France ca. 1885 gouache on vellum, mother-of-pearl sticks Victoria & Albert Museum, London |
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| Fan - Horse-racing England late 18th century watercolor on vellum, tortoiseshell sticks Victoria & Albert Museum, London |
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| Fan - Triumph of Harlequin Italy ca. 1750 watercolor on kid-leather, mother-of-pearl sticks Victoria & Albert Museum, London |
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| Fan - Triumph of Alexander Italy ca. 1690-1700 gouache on vellum, ivory sticks Victoria & Albert Museum, London |
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| Fan - Triumph of Alexander (detail) Italy ca. 1690-1700 gouache on vellum, ivory sticks Victoria & Albert Museum, London |
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| Frédéric Boucheron Fan-shaped brooch with putti and Cupid ca. 1890 enamel, gold, diamond Victoria & Albert Museum, London |
I am grateful to the Victoria & Albert Museum in London for excellent images.