Editing Hand fan (section)

=== Re-introduction in Europe ===
[[File:Anderson Sophie Ready For The Ball.jpg|thumb|''Ready For The Ball'' by [[Sophie Gengembre Anderson|Sophie Anderson]]]]
{{See also|Chinoiserie in fashion}}
[[File:Simonet - retrato.jpg|thumb|''Lady with a Fan'' by [[Enrique Simonet]]]]

Hand fans were absent from [[Europe]] during the [[High Middle Ages]] until they were reintroduced in the 13th and 14th centuries. Fans from the [[Middle East]] were brought by [[The Crusades|Crusader]]s, and refugees from the [[Eastern Roman Empire]].

In the 15th and early 16th century, Chinese folding fans were introduced in Europe and later played an important role in the social circles of Europe in the 18th century.<ref name=":110" /><ref>{{Cite book |last=Wallis |first=Wilson D. |title=Culture and progress |date=2003 |editor=Kenneth Thompson |isbn=978-1-136-47940-3 |location=London |publisher=Routledge |oclc=857599674}}</ref>{{Rp|82}} The Portuguese traders first opened up the sea route to China in the 15th century and reached Japan in the mid-16th century,<ref>{{Cite book |last=Behnke |first=Alison |title=Japan in pictures |date=2003 |publisher=Lerner Publications Co |isbn=0-8225-1956-9 |location=Minneapolis, MN. |oclc=46991889}}</ref>{{Rp|26}} and appear to be the first people who introduced [[Orient]]al (Chinese and Japanese) fans in Europe which lead to their popularity, as well as the increased oriental fan imports in Europe.<ref name=":110" /><ref>{{Cite book |last=Baghdiantz McCabe |first=Ina |title=Orientalism in early modern France: Eurasian trade, exoticism, and the Ancien Régime |date=2008 |publisher=Berg |isbn=978-1-84788-463-3 |oclc=423067636}}</ref>{{Rp|251}}

The fan became especially popular in Spain, where flamenco dancers used the fan and extended its use to the nobility.

European fan-makers have introduced more modern designs and have enabled the hand fan to work with modern fashion.

==== 17th century ====
[[File:Folding Fan LACMA M.67.8.115 (1 of 2).jpg|thumb|Folding fan from France {{circa|1850}}]]
[[File:Mujer con abanico y manto - Ulpiano Checa.JPG|thumb|Lady with fan and shawl. [[Ulpiano Checa]]]]

In the 17th century the folding fan, and its attendant [[semiotic]] culture, were introduced from [[China]] and [[Japan]]. By the end of the 17th century, there were enormous imports of China folding in Europe due to its popularity and to a lesser extent, Japanese folding fans were also reaching Europe by that period.<ref name=":110" />

These fans are particularly well displayed in the portraits of the high-born women of the era. Queen Elizabeth I of England can be seen to carry both folding fans decorated with pom poms on their guardsticks as well as the older style rigid fan, usually decorated with feathers and jewels. These rigid style fans often hung from the skirts of ladies, but of the fans of this era it is only the more exotic folding ones which have survived. Those folding fans of the 15th century found in museums today have either leather leaves with cut out designs forming a lace-like design or a more rigid leaf with inlays of more exotic materials like mica. One of the characteristics of these fans is the rather crude bone or ivory sticks and the way the leather leaves are often slotted onto the sticks rather than glued as with later folding fans. Fans made entirely of decorated sticks without a fan "leaf" were known as {{lang|fr|brisé}} fans. The {{lang|fr|brisé}} fan originated in China. However, despite the relative crude methods of construction, folding fans were at this era high status, exotic items on par with elaborate gloves as gifts to royalty.

In the 17th century the rigid fan which was seen in portraits of the previous century had fallen out of favour as folding fans gained dominance in Europe. Fans started to display well painted leaves, often with a religious or classical subject. The reverse side of these early fans also started to display elaborate flower designs. The sticks are often plain ivory or tortoiseshell, sometimes inlaid with gold or silver pique work. The way the sticks sit close to each other, often with little or no space between them is one of the distinguishing characteristics of fans of this era.

In 1685 the [[Edict of Nantes]] was revoked in [[France]]. This caused large scale immigration from France to the surrounding Protestant countries (such as England) of many fan craftsmen. This dispersion in skill is reflected in the growing quality of many fans from these non-French countries after this date.

==== 18th century ====
{{Further|European hand fans in the 18th century}}
In the 18th century, fans reached a high degree of artistry and were being made throughout Europe often by specialized craftsmen, either in leaves or sticks. Folded fans of [[silk]], or [[parchment]] were decorated and painted by artists. Fans were also imported from China by the East India Companies at this time. Around the middle 18th century, inventors started designing mechanical fans. Wind-up fans (similar to wind-up clocks) were popular in the 18th century.

==== 19th century ====
In the 19th century in the [[Western world|West]], European fashion caused fan decoration and size to vary.
[[File:Pinayavatar.jpg|thumb|A [[Filipino people|Filipina]] in [[baro't saya|traditional attire]] with an {{lang|fil|[[abaniko]]}} folding fan ({{c.|1875}}) which played a large part in courtship etiquette in the colonial [[Philippines]]<ref name="Lazatin">{{cite news |last1=Lazatin |first1=Hannah |title=The Secret Messages Filipinas Used to Send With Their Abanikos |url=https://www.esquiremag.ph/the-good-life/what-she-wants/casa-mercedes-language-of-fans-a00184-20180528-lfrm |access-date=17 July 2021 |work=Esquire |date=28 May 2018}}</ref>]]

It has been said that in the courts of England, Spain and elsewhere, fans were used in a more or less secret, unspoken code of messages.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://jeroenarendsen.nl/2006/06/indecent-fan-proposals_19/|title=Indecent Fan Proposals - A Nice Gesture by Jeroen Arendsen|work=jeroenarendsen.nl|date=19 June 2006}}</ref> These fan languages were a way to cope with the restricting social etiquette. However, modern research has proved that this was a marketing ploy developed in the 19th century<ref>FANA Journal, spring 2004, Fact & Fiction about the language of the fan by J.P. Ryan</ref> – one that has kept its appeal remarkably over the succeeding centuries. This is now used for marketing by fan makers like [[Cussons & Sons & Co. Ltd]] who produced a series of advertisements in 1954 showing "the language of the fan" with fans supplied by the well known French fan maker [[Duvelleroy]].{{Citation needed|date=January 2010}}

The rigid or screen fan ({{lang|fr|éventail a écran}}) became also fashionable during the 18th and 19th century. They never reached the same level of popularity as the easy to carry around, folding fans which became almost an integrated part of women's dress. The screen fan was mainly used inside the interior of the house. In 18th and 19th century paintings of interiors one sometimes sees one laying on a chimney mantle. They were mainly used to protect a woman's face against the glare and heat of the fire, to avoid getting {{lang|fr|"coup rose"}}, or ruddy cheeks from the heat. But probably not in the least it served to keep the heat from spoiling the carefully applied make-up which in those days was often wax-based. Until the 20th century houses were heated by open fires in chimneys or by stoves, and the lack of insulation made many a house very draughty and cold during winter. Therefore, any social or family gathering would be in close proximity to the fireplace.

The design of the screen fan is a fixed handle, most often made out of exquisitely turned (painted or guided) wood, fixed to a flat screen. The screen could be made out of silk stretched on a frame or thin wood, leather or papier mache. The surface is often exquisitely painted with scenes ranging from flowers and birds of paradise to religious scenes. At the end of the 19th century they disappeared when the need for them ceased to exist. During the 19th century names like the Birmingham-based firm of [[Jennens and Bettridge]] produced many papier-mâché fans.