Folding Fan with Pastoral and Oriental Imagery. Depicts three separate images on one side: one of two young lovers sitting at the base of a tree, one of a farmer leaning on an implement, and one of an Asian couple on a  small boat. On the other side is one more image, two women and a man flirting with them. An ornate cameo sits at one end of the fan, and a small oval mirror at the other. Comes with original box marked "C. Leviele Fans & Shell Goods, 23 West 36th Street New York."

Condition: Commensurate with age. 

Size (Open): 19 x 11 1/4 in. 

Box Size: 2 1/2 x 12 1/2 x 1 3/4 in. 

#4142 . 

The Zheshan (folding fan) was likely invented in Japan some time in the 9th Century AD, and in 988 they were first introduced in China by a Japanese monk as a tribute during the Northern Song dynasty; these folding fans became very fashionable in China by the time of the Southern Song dynasty. First referred to as “Japanese fans” by the Chinese, they gained popularity as Chinese artisans began to craft miniature images on them in ink or watercolor. The Qianlong Emperor painted a fan with a poem and landscape of the surrounding countryside as a gift for his mother, the Empress Dowager Xiaoshengxian, in 1762. They had reached their zenith in the Ming Dynasty, although towards the end of the Qing Dynasty they began to be seen as tools of lower-class people and servants, and today are primarily sold to tourists. In the modern era, folding fans are made around the world, and of varying substances and degrees of quality, with stunning examples from past ages and countries found in museums all over the globe.

Commensurate with age.