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| Marriage Fan Germany?, 1700 The Victoria & Albert Museum |
In the Eighteenth Century, one of the most popular marriage gifts for brides was a hand fan which a bride could carry at her weddings. These fans often depicted the ceremonies of betrothal and marriage.
This fan from about 1700 with a painted lead of hearts and a crown is the earliest marriage fan in the V&A’s collection. Two hearts surmounted by a gold crown represented the “coronation” of the union of two lovers. The style of the time is evident in the Baroque swags and roses surrounding the central scene. The fan’s origins are uncertain, but it is thought to have been made in a provincial workshop, possibly in Germany, rather than one of the fan-painting studios in Paris, London or Amsterdam.
With ivory sticks and a vellum leaf, such a fan would have been an expensive gift for a bride, so we can deduce that this was made for a young lady from a somewhat affluent family.
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