outdoordoor

A folding fan, a fan that folds

Recently, while reading G. Woolliscroft Rhead's "History of the Fan" (HoF for short) for my university term paper, I came across something interesting. In numerous sources, from papers to websites, you can read things like this:

The folding fan (Chinese: 折扇), invented in Japan, was later introduced to the Chinese in the 10th century. (source)

In the 15th and early 16th century, Chinese folding fans were introduced in Europe. (source)

The order of events is quite clear for folding fans: invented in Japan -> brought to China -> brought to Europe from China. This was what I learnt when writing last year's paper, and my understanding was "well, since folding fans were brought to Europe from Asia, this means that there had been no folding fans in Europe before that". Seems logical, if you ask me.

And there I was reading about early European fans. The first ceremonial fans made total sense in my worldview: feather tufts or rigid disks on metal or ivory handles, just what I imagined a more ancient fan to look like. Right until came the fan of some (presumably) 9th century deacon from a church in Tournus.

This remarkable example [...] is formed of a strip of vellum folded à la cocarde [...]. On the capital rests the guard or box which receives the flabellum when closed... (source: HoF p.90)

...receives the flabellum when closed. So... when it's folded? Like a folding fan that won't be brought to Europe for another 7 centuries? And the shape suggests this as well, "à la cocarde" meaning the shape of what to me looks like the bellows of an accordion. You could easily fold it and put it in the provided box when unused, not so different from what we do with Japanese-style folding fans.

Folding fans? In my Medieval Europe? It's more likely than you think.

I get that this is probably just some terminology mismatch, but I still wonder what exactly is considered a folding fan. So far, I don't have the answer since I'm far from having researched all there is to research on the topic, but here's what I think so far.

There's a difference between "a folding fan" and "a fan that can fold". If you open some of the hand fan classifications, you can find descriptions like

COCKADE: A folding fan, either brisé or with a leaf, that opens 360°, often with extended guards that form a handle. (source)

in regards to the type of fan Rhead writes about. So they are indeed described as folding fans, but I believe that here it just describes that it has the ability to fold. While in the definition

GUNSEN: A Japanese folding fan used as a signal in war. (same source)

"folding fan" refers specifically to the Japanese-style folding fan. The same website confuses things even more by writing

FOLDING FAN: A fan that opens and closes from a head. (same source)

meaning that a fan has to have a head (some pivot point or rivet) to be considered a folding fan. Right before calling cockade fans "a folding fan". But anyway, this actually provides at least some framework for discerning folding fans from one another.

The word often used for fans that don't fold is "rigid". But this brings in additional confusion. By definition, rigid is "stiff or fixed; not able to be bent or moved" (source), but rigid fans are often not.

Returning to those early ceremonial fans, metal disks on metal handles are definitely rigid. But what about feathers? For another example, look at flag-fans. These are the fans that have their (usually rectangular) screens attached to the side of the handle, so that it looks like a flag on a pole. Quoting Rhead, the "rigid flag-fans" are usually made "either of plaited straw of various colours, of linen painted and embroidered, of parchment or vellum, or of silk" (HoF p.97-98). None of these materials seem very rigid to me, and one definitely could wrap the screen around the handle to protect it when not used.

Interestingly enough, Japanese fans called maki-uchiwa (also classified as rigid fans, by the way) that highly resemble flag fans in their construction even came with a cord attached to the handle. This was specifically to tie around the wrapped screen.

In regard to all this confusion, it's interesting to read Rhead's later passages about the theory saying that folding fans had existed in Europe long before Portuguese merchants brought Chinese fans to Europe. He references E. Viollet-le-Duc, who presents thin metal fragments of specific shape found during excavation and thought to be from before the 15th century as evidence (HoF p.108). They indeed look like they could be parts of hand fans, and the theory could very well be true. But still, they both are looking for "true" folding fans, the ones with pivot points, while not classifying something like a cockade fan to be folding.

Anyway... I think there should be some update made to the terminology. So my suggestion is:

I know it's not going to happen, but I just wanted to share this wonderful confusion that I stumbled upon.