16/1997-1

Collection

Textiles

Brief description

Balloon-shaped fan in cotton, silk and wood, decorated with a Japanese figure holding a folded fan, possibly made in Japan c.1890-1950.

Object name

fan

Object number

16/1997-1

Production date

c.1890-c.1950 (manufactured)

Production place

Japan (manufactured)

Period

Victorian (1837-1901)
Twentieth century (1900-1999)

Material

cardboard
canvas
cotton
wood
silk
paint

Technique

hand painted

Physical description

This balloon shaped fan has a beige rayon ground, featuring a padded fabric Japanese male figure with a painted face, holding a folded fan. The figure wears a red and gold woven kimono, a brown and white undergarment, and a brown obi, or sash. The reverse of the fan has a cream cotton canvas ground that is hand-painted with a picture of a red fish in the foreground and greenery in the background, and an architectural feature in brown on the right hand side. The handle of the fan is coated in black gloss paint, decorated with stylised gold painted sprigs of bamboo shoots and a butterfly.

Content description

The fan is decorated with a male Japanese figure wearing a red and gold woven kimono, a brown and white undergarment, and a brown obi, or sash. The figure is holding a folded fan.

Dimensions

Length: 39cm
Width: 20cm

Website keywords

ornaments

Label

Label text for the exhibition At Home with the World, Geffrye Museum (20 March 2012- 9 September 2012):

Fans

No artistic fireplace was complete without a few fans, especially Japanese ones. Maud Berkeley wrote in 1892 of satisfying her desire, if not her husband’s, for all things Japanese by: ‘hanging fans and parasols above the mantelpiece in the drawing room. Wanted to place a few spare ones in Jim’s library but he refused the treat’.