Fans have many uses ranging from practical to symbolic. They can keep you cool in hot weather, serve in religious ritual, display sophistication and wealth, or function as an advertising medium. Perhaps the most enduring role of the handheld fan is as the symbol of wealth or royalty, which stretches as far back as the ancient civilizations of Egypt and Babylon and continues even to this day.

In western culture, fans were commonly associated with the sophistication of the upper classes. Those who aspired to high status could see fans in use in fashion magazines, such as Peterson’s Monthly Magazine here from 1875, which depicts elegant women extravagantly dressed in the height of fashion of that era. Even children’s dolls, paper and porcelain alike, are often shown grasping fans.

Although the fashionable Parisian women were the ideal of American fashion magazines, Asia was also certainly influential. New Bedford had contacts with Japan before its official opening to the west, through whaling (see our online exhibit Pacific Encounters) and as a result, Japanese art and design ideas may be found in the artifacts of the day, even fans. Illustrations of Japanese Geishas may be considered not only as a link to the cross-cultural exchange of the whaling era, but also to the longing for sophistication reflected in the fashion magazines mentioned above.

Leisure scenes were often painted on fans, reflecting the owner’s tastes and perhaps their chosen or hoped for lifestyle.

This fan is the epitome of upper class "nonchalance." The presence of gondolas, masquerades masks, mandolins, distinct hairstyles, and the faint depiction of the lion of Saint Mark, the patron of Venice, all confirm the setting as Renaissance Venice (note that one woman is holding a fan). The positions of the figures reflect the “nonchalance” attitude, or sprezzatrua in Italian, taught by such courtiers as Baldassare Castiglione in contemporary Italy; he believed that the actions of a true upper class citizen should be conducted in a graceful and effortless manner.

Fans were used to express a secret language (see “Language of the Fans”), mostly used for flirtations and courtship. In fact, the fans themselves would often depict a courting couple, preferably at leisure, as mentioned in "Leisure and the Upper Class."

Fans were an accepted part of the ritual of courtship. This particularly extravagant 19th century valentine addressed to a woman named Eliza Anne White in 1846, depicts a woman dressed in finery holding a folding fan, as does this 1904 painting of a courting couple by Adolf J. Frederick.

Many fans are ornamented with images that carry some symbolism for the user or owner. This painted courting fan located on the left combines the leisurely romance of the upper class with symbols of that romance; the two turtledoves offered by the man represents love and friendship, and the lamb represents female innocence. The second painted courting fan located on the right depicts a greyhound, representing both fidelity and royalty, to the left of the couple.