This fan was presented to the Princess of Wales on the occasion of the laying of the foundation stone of Reading School by the Prince of Wales on 1 July 1870 (the date inscribed on the verso). The new school, built to the designs of Alfred Waterhouse (1830-1905), replaced that founded by Henry VII and was erected under the terms of the Reading School Act passed in 1867. The foundation ceremony was described in full in the Court Circular. After the delivery of the Mayor's address to the Prince of Wales, and the Prince's response:

An address, happily not read, was then handed to the Princess in a very novel form. It was reduced by photography, and appended to a fan mounted in mother of pearl, delicately carved, and mounted with gold. Attached to the fan was a solid gold vinaigrette, having on one side the coronet and monogram of the Princess, and an inscription setting forth the occasion of its presentation.

In the centre of the fan leaf are two intertwined As surmounted by the Prince of Wales's coronet. At either side are views of Reading School and Reading Abbey, with the arms of Reading and of the Princess of Wales.

The Minutes of the Reading Borough Council for 1 July 1870 record that 'The Town Clerk also submitted to the Council the illuminated Fan mounted in Pearl, with Gold Vinaigrette attached which under the direction of the same Committee had been executed by Messrs Howell James & Co for presentation by the Mayor and Corporation to Her Royal Highness the Princess of Wales.' Further details of the commission are not known; Howell & James appear to have used French sticks, and to have sub-contracted the decoration of the fan leaf to Marcus Ward, whose signature it bears. Ward had started a company producing greetings cards at the Royal Ulster Works, Belfast, during the 1860s. The firm became noted for the high artistic quality of their cards and a branch was opened in London in 1867. Marcus Ward also produced a number of illuminated addresses, many of which included vignetted views of buildings in the borders. In The Royal Illuminated Book of Legends, published in Edinburgh c.1885, Marcus Ward - who provided the illustrations - is described as Illuminator to the Queen. As he is not known to have worked as an artist himself, the fan leaf was probably painted by one of the firm's professional decorative artists.

From the indentations in the fitted fan box, it is clear that the fan was originally associated with both a circular vinaigrette and a miniature fan, the leaf of which presumably bore the photographic transcript of the Mayor's address mentioned in the Court Circular. Early descriptions indicate that these were attached to the main fan via a blue enamel A and a crown, which was suspended from the loop. Unfortunately these have become divorced from the fan and their present whereabouts are not known.

Paper leaf, inscribed MARCUS WARD DELT. and HOWELL JAMES & CO.

Text adapted from Unfolding Pictures: Fans in the Royal Collection 2005