Inside Leeds Discovery Centre: A Rare Look at 350-Year-Old Fans

A folding hand fan made around the 1680s is one of more than 400 antique fans held at Leeds Discovery Centre. Decorated with the Judgement of Paris from the Trojan War and fitted with sticks carved from antique ivory, the approximately 350-year-old object can be seen as part of the centre’s pre-booked store tours.

The tours are open to the general public at Leeds Discovery Centre and operate on a Give What You Can basis, with donations invited. No fixed tour date, time or venue address was supplied in the event information, so visitors should check availability and location details with Leeds Museums and Galleries before making plans.

What visitors can discover in the collection

Mostly dating from the 18th and 19th centuries, the fans show how an everyday accessory could carry messages about fashion, status and courtship. Their designs include scenes of love drawn from Greek and Roman mythology, colourful birds and Far Eastern imagery.

Natalie Raw, curator of costume for Leeds Museums and Galleries, said fans were once an essential part of a high-society outfit rather than simply a way to keep cool. Gestures such as fluttering a fan or looking over its edge became associated with flirtation, contributing to the popular belief that fans could serve as a secret code between men and women at dances and social gatherings.

The collection also reaches beyond decorative fashion. It includes education fans carrying information such as botanical classifications or riddles. Two examples bear the name of Sarah Ashton, a female printer who worked in Covent Garden in the late 1700s.

Many of the fans were collected during the late 19th and early 20th centuries, when antique examples became sought-after possessions among wealthy collectors. Figures connected to the Leeds holdings include Lady Gascoigne of Lotherton and Dorothy Una Ratcliffe, who married into West Yorkshire’s Brotherton family.

Why this is a store tour rather than a gallery visit

Leeds Discovery Centre is the storage and conservation base for objects in the Leeds Museums and Galleries collection. The fans are being catalogued and conserved there, so a visit offers access to material kept behind the scenes rather than presented as a conventional permanent exhibition.

That distinction matters when planning a visit: public access is managed through advance tour bookings, and visitors should not expect to arrive without a reservation. Some fans can also be seen at the Lotherton estate in the Botanically Beautiful exhibition, while the Discovery Centre tour provides a route into the wider stored collection.

Booking a Leeds Discovery Centre store tour

Donations can be made online during booking or through cash donation boxes at reception. To find an available slot and confirm the practical details, visitors should use the official Leeds Museums and Galleries website. The collection information was published by Leeds City Council.

Source: Leeds City Council