Textiles & Fans

The Friends of Banning Museum Textiles Collection includes over 2,000 artifacts of clothing and house wares from the late 19th century. The Textiles Collection includes men’s, women’s and children’s fashions, along with accessories such as shoes, hats, purses and jewelry. The Textiles Collection also includes all the linens necessary to furnish a home including rugs, bedding, curtains, and table and bath linens. Take a look at some of the fine pieces from Friends of Banning Museum’s Textiles Collection.

The textiles collection includes 128 dresses for women and children dating from 1850 to 1920. The oldest dress in the collection is a circa 1850 silk taffeta ball gown which belonged to Adelaida Mellus Banning, wife of Phineas Banning’s nephew, William Lowber Banning.

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French style fan, circa 1860. Fan leaf is printed paper with hand-painted details and is signed by the artist, I. Wild. Sticks and guards are carved mother-of-pearl. The leaf depicts a scene from Greek mythology, “The Rape of Europa.” Zeus transformed himself into a white bull to seduce the beautiful Phoenician princess Europa. He swam across the ocean with her on his back. The continent of Europe takes its name from the classical myth.
Red silk fan circa 1890. The fan leaf is decorated with scene of a dog and cat among grass and flowers. Asymmetrical designs and nature motifs were inspired by the Aesthetic movement. Pressed wood sticks and guards.
Mock rococo style fan with alternating panels of net and silk embroidered with spangles and decorated with hand-painted flowers. Sticks are impressed ivory, Circa 1890.
Child’s fan, circa 1850. The gauze fan leaf is embroidered with sequins and spangles. Its ivory sticks and guards are inlaid with cut steel.
Asian style fan, circa 1890. Fan leaf is beige and burgundy silk, hand painted with birds, bees and cherry blossoms. Sticks and guards are bamboo.