Casgliadau Arlein

White fan with bone sticks and guards and satin leaf trimmed with lace and steel spangles.

Sticks and guards have carved floral / fretted design and are decorated with small round steel disks (spangles) which have been set into recesses cut into the bone. They are held there with green adhesive (wax?). The reverse of the sticks and guards is scored with diagonal markings, which probably relate to how the bone was cut.

A reinforcing (?) metal plate (L3.1cm, W1.4cm), shaped to conform to the contours of the guard is attached to the reverse of the right guard, held with 7 metal rivets. Works as a splint supporting breaks in guard. The left guard has a similar reinforcement (L4.6, W2.4), but it is of a different material (possibly bone) and is in a slightly higher position to the one on the right guard: it bridges the interface where the leaf starts (it is attached to the guard with adhesive and 4 metal rivets). These reinforcements appear to be original or at least very old alterations.

The silk leaf is made up of 2 layers which are adhered to either side of the sticks: the front is a silk twill (4/1) and the reverse a silk tabby weave. The fabric (s) appear to have been stiffened. The lower edges are unfinished but the upper edges are finished by several narrow strips (0.17cm) of adhered paper. Where it is inserted in-between the two layers of silk fabric, the bone sticks have been painted white. Strips of lace have been stitched to upper and lower edges of the leaf (running stitches using white thread): upper strip is wider and extends beyond the upper edge of the silk fabric by 2.7cm. The same running stitches used to attach the lace also serve to hold together the front and reverse layers of the leaf. The leaf is decorated with three different types of steel spangles which have been embroidered onto the fan. The spangles are plain circles, and flower shaped spangles of 6- and 10-lobes respectively, all with holes in the centre. The stitches indicate that the spangles were stitched on after the front layer of the leaf was attached to the fan as it can be seen that the threads run around the sticks (but don't extend through the reverse layer of the leaf). Where spangles have become lost, it is possible to see that the position of the spangles has been marked on the fabric with a black pen.

Sticks and guards are held at bottom by an iron fixing-pin over a mother of pearl button. A steel suspension loop is attached at the same point. A cream-coloured silk tassle with an oval upper section and a fringe is attached to this loop. It is made of silk threads (2-ply, S-twist) which cover a padded oval shape made up of cellulosic thread. It is knotted onto the loop by a string of a thicker thread (3-ply, Z twist).

16 sticks and 2 guards