Hand fans

In today’s blog post I wanted to talk not only about a MoDiP object but also about two pieces that I own.

Image ref: AIBDC : 006201
Image credit: MoDiP

This beautiful object is a decorated brise fan. The scene appears to be Georgian/Regency but it’s not actually that old – we believe it is a modern fan dating from around the 1950s -1970s.

The term ‘Brise’ comes from France and translates into ‘broken’. It has only been used to describe these particular types of folding fans from the early 20^th century. The sticks on the fan are often carved or pierced and held together by a ribbon/fabric that is glued to each stick or threaded through pierced openings. The earliest examples came from China and Japan and were exported into Europe from the 1800s. They were typically made from wood and ivory and soon European copies started to appear in natural plastics materials such as horn and tortoiseshell. MoDiP has some examples of these too; two are shown in the image below.

Image ref: WCHL : 422 and 423
Image credit: MoDiP

I am interested in fans because they are objects I can connect to personally. I inherited the two I own from my grandmother which I used to play with when I was a small child. I would dance around the garden holding the white fan pictured below, on the right.

Image ref: My two fans.
Image credit: Reanna Butcher

They are Spanish fans, also known as ‘pericón’, traditionally used for many occasions but predominantly for the Flamenco dance. They became very popular in the mid-late twentieth century as souvenirs and Spain is the country most associated with hand fans today.
 
Reanna Butcher
Museum Assistant
 
References:
https://candicehern.com/regencyworld/brise-fans/#:~:text=The%20earliest%20bris%C3%A9%20fans%20came,from%20the%2017th%20century%20on.&text=The%20bris%C3%A9%20fan%20was%20popular,a%20painted%20and%20pleated%20leaf.
https://www.thefanmuseum.org.uk/
https://fidmmuseum.org/2011/04/19th-century-spanish-fans.html
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hand_fan