Title: Fan

Date c.1740
French
Provenance: gift of Dr Francis Grindon, January 1934
Museum No. OLNCN.680

The fan is dated around 1740 and was possibly owned by Lady Austen's mother. Folding fans from the 18th century typically had wooden or ivory sticks and a paper or parchment leaf.

They were held in the hand, as there was no ring at the end for attaching a ribbon so that the fan could be hung from the wrist. Their subject matter was typically fetes galantes, i.e. scenes of courtly amusements taking place in Arcadian settings, or scenes from Greek or Roman mythology.