Fan
Unknown Artist
1860–79
Medium
Silk
Classification
Fan
Culture
probably French
Department
Costume Institute
Museum
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY
Credit
Brooklyn Museum Costume Collection at The Metropolitan Museum of Art, Gift of the Brooklyn Museum, 2009; Gift of Millicent V. Hearst, 1962
Accession Number
2009.300.5300
Tags
Art Historical Context
This exquisite silk fan, crafted between 1860 and 1879, offers a glimpse into the refined world of mid-19th-century French. Likely produced in France during the opulent Second Empire era under Napoleon III, it exemplifies the era's fascination with luxurious accessories. Fans were not merely practical tools for cooling in stuffy salons but essential elements of social etiquette, used by women to convey subtle messages through a codified "language of the fan"—from coy glances to declarations of affection. The fan's delicate silk medium highlights advanced textile techniques of the time, where ...