Silk fan and box

Object Type
This fan has sticks of gold-painted lacquer and a leaf of paper and silk. Unusually, there is a different painting on each side: on one side there are flowers and birds, while on the other there is a fantasy Chinese garden scene with people among pavilions. The figures have applied faces made of ivory as well as applied silk clothes.

Trading
Fans such as this, made solely for foreign markets, were exported from Canton (Guangzhou) to Europe in tens of thousands, and the more expensive examples would probably have been supplied with their own box. This particular fan was purchased in India, where many of the Chinese ships docked and where there was a ready market for such goods among the British.

Materials & Making
The method of rapid porcelain production in the kiln complex of Jingdezhen set a precedent for the workshops of South China, where artefacts like this fan were produced in huge numbers to the orders of European merchants. The assembly line style of manufacture and the speed of production are clear from the way the tiny ivory faces have been haphazardly applied to the fan, with female faces being in some cases stuck on to male bodies.

Ownership & Use
In Europe, fans were mostly owned by women, but in China both men and women have traditionally used them and continue to do so.