History of the Fan

The author surveys the fan as both practical object and cultural symbol, tracing its religious and secular origins, material construction, and decorative techniques across ancient Mediterranean cultures, East Asia, and indigenous societies. Subsequent chapters catalogue painted and engraved styles from seventeenth to nineteenth-century Italy, Spain, France and northern Europe, describe ceremonial feather fans and the flabellum, and assess modern manufacture, collecting, and museum representation, accompanied by descriptive illustrations and scholarly references.