The earliest fans were probably used to quicken the burning of a fire or to keep bothersome insects at bay, but they eventually took on a prestigious role. For centuries, large, long-handled fans were ceremonial symbols of power, the privilege of pharaohs, priests and kings. Even today, fans of this type are carried in formal papal processions.
Fan making was an art in China and Japan by the time the first European ships reached the Orient in the early 1500s. Along with other riches unfamiliar to Europeans, Portuguese sailors brought back fans to the markets of Europe. It is most likely that fans reached Portuguese-Goa during this period.
Folding fans are thought to have originated in Asia between the 7th and 10th Centuries, and it was there they first became a part of daily life. These fans, as well as the European fans they eventually inspired, were of two types. Pleated fans have a leaf (or mount) of pleated fabric, paper or leather. The leaf is supported on a series of sticks that are joined at one end by a rivet. Guards, which are the two end sticks, protect the fan when it is closed. Brise fans are folding fans that have no leaf. The sticks themselves widen toward their outer ends and overlap to form the body of a fan. To hold the fan together, the sticks are artfully strung with ribbon or string. Cockade fans are folding fans of either the pleated or brise type that open to a full circle.
By the mid-1500s, Europe had begun to make its own fans and Paris soon became the center of fan production. By the 1700s, the art of the European fashioned fan had reached its peak. Gold, silver, ivory, silk and precious gems were used in making fans, as were simpler materials such as wood and leather.,
Many 18th Century pleated and brise fans were painted with reproductions of masterpieces. After the discovery of Pompeii in 1748, fans blossomed with neoclassical motifs. Later in the century, the success of the Montgolfier brothers` hot-air balloon made that lofty subject popular with fan artists.
From the beginning of the 18th Century, wealthy brides and widows were equipped with delicate marriage and dour mourning fans. Other fans commemorated national events, such as inaugurations or the deaths of public figures.
Advances in 18th Century printing technology brought the fan within reach of the masses. A novel type of printed fan known as an aide-memoire (a French phrase meaning ” prompt the memory”) was popular between 1780 and 1820. These instructional fans carried printed details on everything from how to flirt to the biological parts of a flower.
Fans have historically been a significant element of the attire worn by aristocratic landladies in Goa. These women would often carry a fan to church during services, particularly during extended ceremonies such as Maundy Thursday, Good Friday, Easter, New Year, and Christmas, as well as during wedding celebrations. Antoneta Maria Luiza Váz from Margão shares, ‘I still bring my old hand fan, which I inherited from my mother-in-law, to church for services on Maundy Thursday and Good Friday. The fan is over 95 years old and still remains in excellent condition’. Additionally, the hand fan became an essential accessory for women participating in the Mando, the last aristocratic Goan social dance known as 'ballo nobile,' which originated in the 19th century. Even today, the Mando is considered incomplete without the hand fan, although it is now performed by individuals from all walks of life and is featured in competitions, a departure from its traditional setting in the home.
Old fans have become a rare sight in Goan households today. Nevertheless, certain families in the state have diligently maintained their treasured heirlooms. One notable family is the Andrades from Margão, who possess two 19th-century sliced ivory/ bone fans, likely imported from Macau.
During the early years of the Victorian era, fan types from the 1700s and earlier returned to dominate the market. Lithographed, hand-colored fans imitated hand-drawn versions of earlier eras. Although the painting on reproduced fans lacked the refinement of the 1700s examples, these fans today continue to confuse unwary collectors. European brisé fans, made in imitation of the delicate Chinese wooden and ivory fans but distinctly Western in style, were composed of thinly-sliced sticks of bone, horn, tortoiseshell, mother-of-pearl, or ivory that were often elaborately carved, gilded, and painted.
Americans who had imported European fans from the late 1600s to the mid-1800s, joined the fan-making fray soon after the Civil War. In 1867, Hunt Fan Co. opened in Massachusetts and made-in-America fans began to acquire attention.
Advertising fans soon joined art with avarice in an outpouring of promotional gimmicks that peaked at the turn of the century. These mass-produced fans remained popular until the 1940s.
Fans retained their favored position until well into the 1930s, and well- known artists designed examples that expressed both the sinuous nature of art nouveau and the clean angularity of Art Deco. As fashion catapulted into the modern age, however, the fan suddenly seemed out of place.
The trend to carry a fan spread rapidly through society, and fan making became a lucrative business. In 1709 the first English guild of fan makers is founded. The demand was so high that fans were also imported from the continent, especially France, and China. From the 1720s, the so called brisé fan becomes fashionable in Europe. It consists completely of pierced material such as ivory, bone, mother-of-pearl and tortoiseshell, and were often highly adorned with jewels, silver and gold work or inlays.
Fans were so popular that they were carried by ladies and dandies alike. Fans for men replaced the dress sword as accessory. A luxurious design was a must for fans: The sticks and guards are made of precious material as mentioned earlier.