Fan

Folding fans like this one were important social status symbols. They would have been carried by fashionable women on trips to the theatre or to the pleasure gardens. Fans were sometimes given to women as gifts by male admirers.

The illustration on the fan leaf uses imagery from classical mythology, a common decorative feature of leaves. On the left of the scene the Roman goddess of love, Venus, is persuading the seated Helen to fall in love with Paris who stands to their right. Above them is Venus' son Cupid with his mother's chariot which is drawn by swans. The fan's ivory sticks and guards have been carved and hand painted. The bird cage on the sticks is possibly an allusion to marriage. Roses are associated with the goddess Venus.