The Language of the Fan

Object: Fan, 19^th century

Accession # 1989.0022

Are you looking forward to Wilton’s exhibit on love and courtship since the eighteenth-century? To peak your interest, this week’s object from the collection is a finely carved, ivory Chinoiserie fan. Chinoiserie [sheen-wah-zuh-ree] is a French term used to describe European objects that reflect Chinese artistic themes. This fan is decorated with paintings of Oriental scenes and animals and carvings of birds, vines, and flowers. Although this fan was made in the nineteenth century, its style reflects a trend that first became wildly popular two centuries prior.

During the seventeenth century, fans became popular all over Europe as a women’s accessory; however, they were expensive and considered a high status, exotic item. Like highly valued porcelain, these fans were imported from the East.

The fad for fans only increased in the eighteenth century.  These fans, imported to Great Britain from China by the East India Company, reflect the modes of trade and fashion at the time. What was once exotic and rare in the seventeenth century became a widely produced commodity for wealthy, fashionable women. Like Chinese export porcelain and more economical British Wedgewood ceramics, the finest fans were made of ivory and less expensive versions were constructed of bone.  Surviving examples demonstrate a variety of decorative themes from the earlier mentioned Chinoiserie to painted scenes from Greek mythology and current events.  A well educated woman could use her fan as an invitation to discuss Virgil’s Aeneid or the British victory at the Battle of Porto Bello.

In the nineteenth century, the French fan maker Jean-Pierre Duvelleroy once again fueled the fashion for fans when he was appointed supplier for Queen Victoria. His London fashion house published a pamphlet instructing ladies in the “Language of the Fan.” For instance , the fan held in front of the face meant “Follow Me”, or  the fan in front of the ear told a suitor to ”Go away.” Although  there are no primary sources  referencing  a coded “language of the fan”  before this brilliant marketing ploy that does not mean that women  across the centuries did not wield their fans with a purpose beyond cooling themselves on a warm afternoon or in a crowded ballroom. Madame de Staël, the late eighteenth-century author and influential woman of her time, had the following to say about fans:

What graces does not a fan place at a woman’s disposal if she only knows how to use it properly! It waves, it flutters, it closes, it expands, it is raised or lowered according to circumstances. Oh! I will wager that in all the paraphernalia of the loveliest and best-dressed women in the world, there is no ornament with which she can produce so great an effect.

The fan from Wilton’s collection is monogrammed with the initials “GBD.” How do you think this lady flourished her fine fan?

Bibliography

Baumgarten, Linda,  What Clothes Reveal: The Language of Clothing in Colonial and Federal America.  The Colonial Williamsburg Foundation, 2002.

The Colonial Williamsburg Foundation, “Colonial Williamsburg ‘s Museum Collection of Historic Threads: Three Centuries of  Clothing. “ Online Exhibit, 19 January 2012.                     < http://www.history.org/history/museums/clothingexhibit/index.cfm>

Tea in a Teacup, “The Language of the Fan: Myth or Fact?.”  2 July 2011. 19 January 2012. <http://teainateacup.wordpress.com/2011/07/02/the-language-of-the-fan-myth-or-fact>

Also see: The Fan Museum, Greenwich, http://www.thefanmuseum.org.uk/

Image credits:

http://www.history.org/history/museums/clothingexhibit/museum_accessories.cfm?section=femaleacc#7: CW Fan 1740-1775; China for export to west, Ivory, painted paper, metal and paste rivet

http://www.nmm.ac.uk/blogs/collections/2011/01/the_navy_and_the_nation_in_the.html: battle of porto bello

Finery for the Occasion

Shoe Buckle, 18th-19th century

Ascension #: 1901.15.2

The Randolphs would have wanted to show off at their Twelfth Night celebration. One of the ways to show off their wealth was through their dress. Decked out in the most expensive attire, the Randolphs would let their guests know just how much they could afford. One part of the Randolph gentlemen’s wardrobe which they would have brought out for such a celebration were their fancier shoe buckles to replace their everyday brass ones. The shoe buckle pictured above is oval shaped with an inset pattern of glass jewels and is kept in a black, leather, dome lidded storage box lined with a satin, hair-filled display cushion.

Early buckles, dating back to the early seventeenth century, were made out of bronze or silver and were more practical than attractive. By the end of the eighteenth century they were considered fashionable. Most of the buckles were made in England and sold in the colonies. In the late eighteenth century the center of the buckle industry in Birmingham, England was able to produce more than 2.5 million pairs of buckles each year using the newly invented stamping machine which made the buckles from molds. Prior to this time, buckles were cast in molds to achieve their initial shape, and then were finished with hand tools.  

Shoe buckles made in the late eighteenth century had mainly rectangular frames, though round and shuttle-shaped frames were also being made. A pin in the center carried the parts that kept the buckle and straps together. They were decorated with molded ornaments and engraving. Buckles could also be silver or gold plated to protect them from the elements. 

There were buckles designed to be worn at certain times such as those worn to funerals called “mourning buckles”. Silver and gold buckles were worn everyday, while the buckles with jewels and other embellishments were reserved for special occasions. Ironically, one historian points out, the most prestigious and expensive buckles were ornamented with paste stones.” By the 18th century, shoe buckles made of “metal titania”, which were finished with titanium oxide to give them a mirror-like finish, became a status symbol of the wealthy. As noted by one writer, “A person’s status could be judged by a swift glance at his or her feet”. Those who were at the Randolphs for a special occasion such as Twelfth Night would have had no doubt about the wealth of their host and hostess as they saw them walk in to greet their guests.

Bibliography

Shoe Buckles: A brief history. All About Shoes. 26 December 2011. 28 December 2011.

           <http://allaboutshoes-toeslayer.blogspot.com/2011/12/shoe-buckles-brief-history.html>

Stelten, Ruud. “The Golden Rock: Seventeenth-and eighteenth century from Oranje Bay, St. Eustatius”.

           Bachelor Thesis. Universiteit Leiden, 2006.