A Cool Breeze - Part 1

The first items acquired by the National Coach Museum in 1922 were two Empire fans. 

The donations and purchases by the Coah Museum succeeded, with particular emphasis given to the purchase of fans that belonged to Queen D. Amélia, founder of the Coach Museum. 

We can admire today in the Museum of Costume a beautiful fan made of ivory and vellum, painted in 1864 by the famous French illustrator, draftsman and water colourist  Paul Gavarni (1804-1866), for the marriage of Isabel de Monpensier (1848-1919), Duchess Isabel de Orleães and mother of D. Amélia.

Another particularly interesting purchase is the commemorative fan
celebrating the II Centenary of the Death of Calderón de la Barca
(1600-1681), an item that was probably a gift to Queen D. Amélia on that occasion.

From the time of its creation, in 1976, the National Museum of Costume has integrated other fans into its collection. Today the collection has more than 300 fans and is, therefore, one of the most important in Portugal. 

Although it includes some examples dating from the 18^th century, this collection is particularly representative of fans dating from the 19^th and the beginning of the 20^th century. 

During this period there was a great diversity of fans – as a consequence of their generalised use – and due to the discovery and application of new materials and techniques for their manufacture, the variety of themes represented and the new way fans were employed, originating new functions.

As for their structure, the collection contains the types of fans more currently used in Europe during the 18th, 19th and 20th centuries: the folding fans, the brisé …
 

… lace fans … 

… as well as the more exuberant feather fans.

The origin of this collection is mainly foreign, with a clear predominance of French fans, which shows the historic preference of the Portuguese for foreign fashions, in particular those from France.

This fan is signed by Félix Alexandre and André-Charles Voillemot. 

It might have been made for Mrs. Eudoxie Bibikof, who later married Serge Goriainov, according to the donor’s note.

Also signed by Félix Alexandre, this fan was purchased in Paris by the Count Apraxine and gifted to his niece Sophie Alexandrovna Bibikov. 

It was given to Beatriz Cinatti Batalha Reis c.1917 who later donated it to the Coach Museum, in August 1974, along with the previous one.

The fans from the East were particularly appreciated in Europe as exotic and reasonably priced items compared with European fans. 

 The presence of oriental fans in the collection, Chinese and Japanese, is significant.
 

The fact that they are numerous shows the important role that Portugal played in importing these by the thousands through Macao, where they were also manufactured.

The nucleus of oriental fans is constituted by items dating from the 18^th, 19^th and 20^th centuries which, in some cases, were clearly commissioned and fashioned according to western taste.

Some have an exquisitely delicate and complex workmanship in their structure, with sticks made of ivory or tortoise shell.

In the museum’s collection the so-called Mandarin Fans are well represented, also known as Canton Fans or One-Thousand-Faces Fans, due to their origin and decorations.

They were almost exclusively manufactured for export to the European market through the port of Canton (now Guangzhou).

In Mandarin fans a polychrome double-sided paper leaf is applied in the monture, painted with strong colours and decorated with Chinese figures in a landscape or architecture, pavilions, palace and court interiors, symbols or flowers.  

The scenes are often based on scenes from life at court, popular stories and events, ancient literature and historical events. 

The figures have applied faces made of ivory, thus the "one-thousand-faces" name, and the clothes are either painted in detail or made of applied colourful silk clothes. The scene is usually framed on the edge with symbolic and flower motifs.