Decorative fans made for royalty became fashionable objects and royal souvenirs. They combined practical cooling with status display and artistic design, reflecting the tastes and obsessions of their time. The exhibition emphasizes decoration as much as the fans themselves, showing both unique court commissions and mass-produced items for major royal events. Fans commemorated coronations, jubilees, weddings, and military victories, functioning as predecessors to modern commemorative household goods. Many pieces reveal how royalty wanted to be seen or how the public wanted to remember them, moving from hand-drawn portraits and engravings to photographic images. Royal memorabilia production also extended to mass markets, including cheaply printed designs and gifts produced for Jubilee celebrations. Not all commemorations were celebratory, with some depicting military triumphs and defeated monarchs.
"Fans may have been practical items for keeping cool, but they were also status symbols and canvases for art and design, reflecting the tastes and obsessions of their era."
"Some were unique commissions made for members of royal courts, while others were mass-produced souvenirs celebrating coronations, jubilees, weddings and military victories - the predecessors of today's commemorative mugs and tea towels."
"Many of the fans tell stories about how royalty wished to be seen - or how the public wanted to remember them. Early examples feature hand-drawn portraits and engravings, while later pieces use photographic images of royal families."
"One particularly large fan celebrates Queen Victoria and her extensive family, even though it was cheaply printed on paper, demonstrating how royal memorabilia could be produced for the mass market."
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