FAN, an instrument or mechancal contrivance for moving the air for the sake of coolness, or for winnowing chaff from grain. In the east, the use of fans is of remote antiquity. The Hebrews, Egyptians, Chinese, and the miscellaneous population of India, all used fans as far back as history reaches. At the present day, it is customary, in the better classes of houses in India, to suspend H large species of F. from the ceiling, and keep it in agitation with strings, pulled by servants, in order to give a degree of coolness to the air. See PUNKAH. Among the oldest notices of winnowing fans are those in the Scriptures. There the F. is always spoken of as an instrument for driving away chaff, or for cleansing in a metaphorical sense; and such notices remind us of the simple processes of husbandry employed by a people little advanced in the arts. It was a long stride from the use of a simple hand-instrument for winnowing to that of the modern mechanism employed for a similar purpose. See FANNERS; BLOWING', MACHINES.
As is observable from the collection of Egyptian antiquities in the British museum, the F. as an article of female taste and luxury is of quite as old date as the instrument is for commoner purposes. Terence, a writer of Latin comedies, who lived in the 2d c. B.e., makes one of his characters speak of the F. as used by ladies in ancient Rome: Cape hoc flabellum, et ventuluns Auk facito—" Take this fan, and give her thus a little air." From this Roman origin, the fashion of carrying fans could scarcely fail to be handed down to the ladies of Italy, Spain, and France, whence it was in advanced times imported by the fair of Great Britain. Queen Elizabeth, when in full dress, a fan. Shakespeare speaks of fans as connected with a lady's "bravery" or finery: With scarfs and fans, and double charge of bravery.
It is proper to say, however, that the F. was in these and also in later times not a mere article of finery. There were walking as well as dress fans. The walking or outdoor F. which a lady carried with her to church, or to public promenades, was of large dimensions, sufficient to screen the face from the sun, and answered the purpose of the modern parasol (q.v.). In old prints, ladies are seen carrying these fans in different attitudes according to fancy. The dress F., which formed part of a lady's equipment at court ceremonies, drums. routs, and theatrical entertainments, was of a size consider ably less than the walking F., and altogether more elegant. Of these dress fans there exist numerous specimens bequeathed as heirlooms from one generation to another; indeed, there are few ladies who cannot show several of different eras throughout the 18th c.; some being in good preservation, while in others the gilded stars and cupids
which delighted the eyes of great-grandmothers have a mournfully tarnished appear ance. In the finer kinds of these old fans, the open part of paper is painted with pretty rural scenes and groups of figures in the style of Watteau (q.v.). All were probably df French manufacture. The more costly F. imported from China was, and still is, alto gether of ivory, highly carved and pierced; but it wants the lightness and flexibility which were essential in the ordinary management of this article of the toilet. Strictly speaking, the F. was used less for the purpose of cooling than for giving the hands something to do, and also for symbolically expressing certain passing feelings. In the hand of an adept, the F., by peculiar movements, could be made to express love, dis dain, modesty, hope, anger, and other emotions. Gay, speaking of Flavia's accomplish ments, says: In other hands, the fan would prove An engine of small force in love.
Considering the coarseness of language, even in the higher circles, in the early part of the 18th c., we cannot wonder that the F. should have been indispensable to a lady going into company. It was held up to shield the countenance when anything too shocking for female ears was uttered. Pope has an allusion to this use of the fan: The modest fan was lifted up no more, And virgins smiled at what they blushed before.
Steele, in a paper in the Tatter, No. 52, Aug. 9, 1709, gives an amusing account of Delamira, a line lady, resigning her F. when she was about to be married. One of her female acquaintances, having envied the manner in which this charming and fortunate coquette had played her F., asks her for it. Delamira acknowledges the wonderful virtues of the F., and tells her that "all she had above the rest of her sex and contem porary beauties was wholly owing to a F. (that was left her by her mother, and had been long in the family), which, whoever had in possession, and used with skill, should com mand Hie hearts of all her beholders; 'and since,' said she smiling, 'I have no more to do with extending my conquests or triumphs, I will make you a present of this inestimable rarity.' " Two years later, Addison, in a paper in the Spectator (No. 102), gives a humorous account of the tactics of coquettes in the use of fans: " Women are armed with fans as men with swords, and sometimes do more execution with them;" then he goes on to describe how ladies arc instructed to handle, discharge, ground, and flutter their fans—the whole being a pleasant satire on the fan-maneuvering in the reign of queen Anne.