Designing the cool: a short history of the fan

As heat waves plough through Europe and the world, leaving most of us desperate for a fresh breeze of air to cool our necks, one cannot help but thinking about a single object that, throughout history, has kept our sensitive species ventilated in the face of scorching temperatures. The hand fan is almost as old a tool as heat itself and has taken many forms and delineations across regions of the world and time periods. An oftentimes small and portable object, it carried much more than purely functional weight and held symbolic and ceremonial meanings, at times associated with fashion, performance, class, power, lifestyle, in addition to eventually becoming regarded an art form in and of itself. 

Archeological research and excavations have demonstrated that the earliest fans recorded in history date back to ancient Egypt and carried both functional and symbolic meaning, depending on their design and intended use. Some of the earliest depictions of fans take the form of relief carvings. An especially well-preserved relief from the temple of Temple of Ramesses III (1186–1155 BC) shows a figure commonly referred to as a “fan bearer” carrying aloft a long-handled processional fan trimmed with feathers, used to cool or shade court officials and dignitaries. They were made of commonly found materials like palm leaves and animal feathers.

By contrast, the extraordinary fans found in 1922 in the tomb of Tutankhamun speak to the more ceremonial aspect of this design at the time. The “Golden Fan” in particular, pictured above, is arguably the most artful, despite having lost its original spray of ostrich feathers. Coated entirely in gold leaf, the upper semi-circular part of the handle is chased with a design of the pharaoh hunting ostrich. The fan functioned here as a symbol of wealth and status, and so common in everyday life that it was depicted as part of a realistic funerary sculpture that would accompany the ruler into the afterlife.

A testament to the great cultural exchanges that prevailed throughout the Mediterranean region in ancient and classical times, fans are believed to have been exported from Egypt throughout the Greco-Roman world as early as the 4^th century BC. The above pictured lebes, or “wedding amphora,” exhibits the figure of Eros carrying a fan with decorative handles and topped with peacock feathers, and giving it to a seated bride-to-be. Made around 340 BC, this work is one of the earliest depictions of a fan to originate from Greece and associates the object not only with the ritualistic rite of marriage, but with femineity itself. In a similar vein, also from the Hellenistic period, “Tanagra” terracotta figurines depict hat-wearing women dressed in fashionable himations and carrying flat fans of spade shapes, as seen above. These figurines seem to have carried purely decorative purposes and are believed to be somewhat realistic depictions of figures from everyday life, pointing to possibly the widespread use of flat-shaped fans at the time.

In China at around the same time, fans were already in use in a wider variety of shapes and uses. Believed to have been used since primitive times, the earliest handheld fans were generally rigid and oval, though some were hexagonal or square, with a central or side handle. They were generally constructed from plants and large leaves. As times progressed, they gradually became more complex, eventually being crafted using bamboo stems and strips as well as feathers on the outer edges, like in ancient Egypt. Depending on their form and context of use, they carried different functions and significance. Utilitarian fans made of simple materials were used by everyday people to kill flies or cool themselves. Women used them to hide their shyness and cultivate femineity. In “Dawang Tuanshan Ge,” a famous Eastern Jin (266-420 AD) poem, a concubine shields her face from her lover behind a fan, not wanting him to see that she looked tired. In the context of Chinese aristocratic circles and royal courts, fans very much held social significance, being associated with varying levels of high status. Large and long handled fans, as the ones pictured in Yan Liben’s Emperor Taizong… scroll pictured here, were generally held in pairs in imperial processions; together with banners and other symbolic insignias, they constituted important components of royal ceremonies. For the literati and artists, fans were aesthetic objects whose decoration removed any functionality from the object. According to The Book of Rites, a collection of texts from the Zhou Dynasty (11^th-3^rd century BC), fans were made of silk and decorated with paintings, jade pendants and colorful feathers. This only grew with time, and fans eventually became venerated art forms, being dismounted from their frames and presented as album leaves.

When one thinks of a fan, the folding, handheld type likely first comes to mind. Folding fans, or sensu, are believed to have originated in Japan during the Kofun period (circa 300-710 AD), before ultimately making their way to China in the 10^th century. According to Japanese legend, the folding fan was invented by a court official who threaded together thin wooden staves with paper for the purpose of writing on it, much like a portable notebook. The Japanese folding fan quickly evolved to become a staple in royal courts as well as artistic and aristocratic circles, signaling wealth, status, including at times military status. Gradually, these ōgi became more colorful and pictures, paintings, and calligraphy were added to them. Elaborate fans were also used as part of noh and kabuki performances of traditional Japanese theater, becoming essential props to support drama, song, and dance.

Perhaps a more unusual function of the handheld fan in Japan at the time was for purely military use, as evidenced by the widespread use of the gunbai fan from the Muromachi period (1336-1573) onward. The gunbai fan consists of a flat iron or solid metal surface of square or rectangular shape, and functions more as a signal baton and symbolic tool than it is used for cooling or ceremonial purposes. Once held by military leaders and samurai officers to communicate signals and commands during battles, they also offered protection from natural elements such as sun, wind, and even arrows. 

Across Asia, the practice of fan-making followed cultural specificities and relied on available, local materials. In Vietnam, earliest fans were made from bird feathers and taraw palm trees; the Quạt mo was cut directly from the dried Areca leaf stems, then pressed to flatten, and was most widespread amongst farmers in the countryside. In the Philippines, the traditional “Pamaypay” fan had a heart shape and woven from buri palm. 

Europe experienced a resurgence of fan usage from the Renaissance onwards, largely caused by expanding trade routes from Asia and the Middle East. In the 15th and early 16th century, Asian folding fans were introduced in Europe by the Portuguese and quickly played an important role in upper-class European circles, where they were seen as luxurious and exotic commodities. First associated with the Chinoiserie style and featuring “Oriental” motifs and subjects, fans rapidly espoused different styles, designs, and wide-ranging use of materials (from ivory and diamonds to more inexpensive wood slats and paper), they reflected changing trends in social norms and fashion, from Chinoiserie to neoclassical motifs. Official portraits of European monarchs, such as Queen Elizabeth I, often incorporated depictions of luxurious, diamond-encrusted fans. In the royal court of Versailles under Louis XIV and XV, elaborate fans were akin to modern-day cell phones: they were extensions of oneself, used as fashion accessories reflecting their owner’s status and artful tastes, to flirt with, to write onto, or to give an air of shyness and privacy. They were as performative as they were playful, often complementing one’s garment and further enhancing certain personal traits and characteristics of its owner. 

As far as functionality goes, the handheld fan experienced perhaps its most striking revolution upon the advent of electricity in the late 19^th century, with Schuyler Skaats Wheeler credited with inventing the first electric desk fan in 1882. New materials and technology, as well as the introduction residential air conditioning in the mid-20th century led to a decline in the popularity of handheld fans for general cooling, though they remained popular for personal use and in areas without air conditioning. 

Electric air conditioning was far from being universal in the mid-20^th century. Case in point, “church fans” were widely used within African-American churches throughout the United States where modern air-conditioning had not been made available. In the 1950s, many Black churches were unable to afford a centralized cooling system, prompting churchgoers to instead use portable, manual fans that became community tools as much as cooling mechanisms, becoming cultural staples within the community. Such fans typically consist of a central wooden handle and a decorated flat paper blade adorned with photographs, text, or community advertisements, displaying anything from reproductions of paintings of Jesus Christ to ads for funeral homes. The Church fan continues to hold deep cultural, historical, and symbolic significance in Black culture, early examples of which are now held in museums.

The significance of the fan amongst select minorities and communities around the world further attests to its multi-layered cultural and historical significances. In addition to Black churches in America, specific types of “clack fans,” a type of folding fan designed to create a distinctive “clack” sound when opened or closed, have also found a home in LGBTQ+ communities around the world. Stemming from ideas of imitating and appropriating cultural ideas of excess, wealth, status and elegance, these large fans seek to punctuate speech and serve as indispensable accessories as part of drag performances, hinting at the long history of fan use in traditional Asian theaters and sustaining the legacy of fans as theatrical, performative props. 

As a purely functional tool with universal appeal, the fan has experienced a resurgence in popularity since the advent of the portable electric fan. These pocket-sized, incredibly practical devices come in various sizes, shapes, and materials, including rechargeable and high-tech models with features like Bluetooth connectivity and long-lasting battery life. Akin to what Stanley Cups represent for hydration, portable electric fans have become incredibly popular for personal use, often acting as much as fashion statements as functional gadgets guaranteeing personal comfort. The portability and technological prowess that they represent further signify the increasingly disappearing boundaries between public and private spheres, and the device-ification of comfort.

The handheld fan proves to be a tool of enduring popularity and continues to take on new meaning and to resonate with us, whether practically or symbolically. Its genesis across time periods and cultures makes it a cultural object of continual universal significance, and the bearer of subtle nuances and socio-cultural importance transcending its purely utilitarian function. 

Opening image: Sofia Coppola, Marie Antoinette, 2006