Fan, commemorative fan

This printed fan commemorates two unmanned hot air balloon flights. It has been painted in water colours and decorated with silver sequins. Fan leaves often featured illustrations of current events. The central scene depicts the flight of a balloon designed by the French physics professor Jacques Charles and built by the engineers Jean and Noël Robert. The Robert brothers constructed a special rubber coating for the hydrogen filled balloon. The flight took place at the Place des Victoires in Paris on the 27th August 1783.

The scenes on either side illustrate the flight of Michael Biaggini's and Count Francesco Zambeccari's balloon. The ascent took place at the Artillery Ground at Moorfields on 25 November 1783. The balloon was made of oiled yellow silk and was ten feet in diameter. It fell to earth two and a half hours later, 48 miles away near Petworth in Sussex. Zambeccari became the first person to launch a hydrogen balloon in England on 4 November 1783.