When
parties and balls became fashionable in England in the Elizabethan
period, the fan became de rigueur. The heavy, hot atmosphere of unwashed
overdressed people jammed into a candlelit room made them a necessity
to keep one's makeup from running. At first paddle-shaped or made from
feathers, they were fairly uninspiring until the arrival of the
Huguenots.
After Jacob Chassereau settled in London fans became a work of art, enlivened by the Chinese export market.
Fans were then constructed uniformly, and no bigger than twelve and a
half inches long. The decoration was chosen by the lady. 
Painters
specialized in decorating fans. In England the shepherds and nymphs
of Watteau and later Boucher were popular. (Watteau himself painted
fans, including the bridal fan of Adelaide of Savoy in 1709.)
In
1711, the craze for expensive fans reached such proportions that
Joseph Addison felt the need to mock it roundly in his coffee house
publication, The Spectator. His excellent article,
'advertising' his Academy for the Instruction of the Use of the Fan
explains how he drills young ladies in fan etiquette in a military
fashion.
The Fluttering of
the Fan is the last, and indeed the master-piece of the whole Exercise;
but if a lady does not misspend her time, she may make herself mistress
of it in three months...There is the angry flutter, the modest
flutter, the timorous flutter, the confused flutter, the merry flutter,
and the amorous flutter...I have seen a fan so very angry, that it
would have been dangerous for the absent lover who provoked it to have
come within the wind of it...I need not add, that a fan is either a
prude of coquet according to the nature of the person who bears it.
p.s. I teach young gentlemen the whole art of gallanting a fan.
Spectator, no. 102
He
mocked the 'Language of the Fan'. The Rotari portrait of circa 1750
of the girl with the butcher's hands seems to indicate there was some
kind of message to be imparted by particular postures. 
Whether
such a language was ever used by young ladies at fashionable parties
was possibly only a romantic notion: Common themes:
Fan closed, tip to lips: we are overheard
Ditto, tip to right cheek: yes
Ditto, tip to left cheek: no
Ditto, tip to forehead: you are out of your mind
Chin on tip: you annoy me
Ditto, tip to heart: I love you
Lower open fan until pointing at the ground: I hate you
 |
| Vernis Martin fan |
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|
REGENCY
During the Regency era, every lady of fashion carried a fan in her reticule. She
would slip it over her wrist at a ball or evening party but used was
less for flirtation. The elegant accessory was used to provide relief
from the heat of the ballroom. Folding fans with multiple elaborately
decorated sticks, known as brise fans, were among the most popular and
were often articles of great beauty. The Vernis Martin fans were
so-called because of their varnished decoration. They were hand-painted,
often with oriental scenes. Developed by the four Martin brothers,
they were highly prized.
The sticks were made of wood, ivory, mother-of-pearl,
tortoiseshell metal or lacquered wood, gold with leaves of silk, crape,
lace, chicken skin, paper or lamb's/kid's skin.
Regency fans were usually between six and ten inches long.
Excerpt from The Reluctant Marquess:
Brigitte picked up a fan painted with flowers. “And the fan,
my lady. No lady is without one. You must flirt with it.”
“Flirt?”
“Like this.” Brigitte opened the fan, displaying a lovely
painted rural scene and fluttered it before her face. “Like a
coquette, oui?”
“I suppose so,” Charity said doubtfully.
“It is called the amorous flutter,” Brigitte said, warming
to her theme. “There is also the angry flutter, like this.” She
snapped it shut. “The modest miss, oui, like this? A merry
lady, like this….”
She expertly twirled the fan.
“Oh stop,” Charity said, laughing. “I shall never feel
comfortable doing any of that.”
“But that is the way of society ladies,” Brigitte said. “I learnt
it in France from the Countess De Avignon.”
“Well, perhaps I’ll ease into it gradually.” Charity relented
at the disappointed moue on Brigitte’s lips, and Brigitte
immediately brightened, handing her the fan and her reticule.
BUY LINK: AMAZON KINDLE
Sources: Georgette Heyer's Regency World by Jennifer Kloester, Sourcebooks.
Georgian London
by Lucy Inglis Georgian London the book will be available in hardback
in the summer of 2012, published by Penguin Books.
http://www.georgianlondon.com
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