Brisé fans
Encyclopedia
Fan (implement)
A hand-held fan is an implement used to induce an airflow for the purpose of cooling or refreshing oneself. Any broad, flat surface waved back-and-forth will create a small airflow and therefore can be considered a rudimentary fan...
is Italian and, dating from about 1620-40, is the earliest example in the Victoria and Albert Museum
Victoria and Albert Museum
The Victoria and Albert Museum , set in the Brompton district of The Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea, London, England, is the world's largest museum of decorative arts and design, housing a permanent collection of over 4.5 million objects...
's collection. Fans were made in Japan and China from the tenth century AD, but did not reach Europe until the second half of the sixteenth century. The individual sticks of this fan are shaped to imitate feathers, and the decoration, in delicate straw appliqué work, is of exotic birds and flowers. In the early seventeenth century straw-work of this high quality was produced in Tuscany
Tuscany
Tuscany is a region in Italy. It has an area of about 23,000 square kilometres and a population of about 3.75 million inhabitants. The regional capital is Florence ....
, paricularly in the area around Florence. Both brisé fans and fans with folding leaves were popular in the late sixteenth and early seventeenth centuries. Although many portraits of this period show fans being held in the hand, very few have survived.