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Folding Fan
This is a Folding fan. It is dated 1880–1900 and we acquired it in 2016. Its medium is printed cotton leaf on obverse with dyed and glazed cotton leaf on reverse; narrow woven binding at edge of leaf; ebonized wood sticks with wood slips; metal loop and bone washer at the rivet.. It is a part of the Textiles department.
Title: Fashionable Fan
This folding fan dating from the 1880's-90's is a perfect example of the expression of the Aesthetic Movement in costume accessories. Fans and the Aesthetic Movement are deeply intertwined. The Aesthetic style was strongly influenced by the decorative arts of Asia, where fans originated. During the late 19th century, Asian fans, particularly from Japan, were used as decorative elements in the design of Aesthetic Movement interiors. Department stores such as Liberty in London and Tiffany & Company in New York imported and sold Japanese fans and objects with fan motifs. Surprisingly, it is rare to find a fan so clearly within the Aesthetic Movement style.
The printed cotton leaf of the fan depicts eight different overlapping designs for ceramic plates in the Aesthetic Movement style surrounded by a small fish scale pattern. The reverse leaf is dyed and glazed dark brown cotton. The sticks and guards are made of wood ebonized black with unpainted wood slips in between the two layers of the leaf. Interestingly, ebonized wood was a hallmark of Aesthetic Movement furniture. At the edge of the fan, binding the two layers together, is a narrow woven tape that is dyed black. At the rivet there is a bone washer and metal loop.
The fan probably was used by a woman of the middle class, with whom this style was very popular in the 1880's and 1890's. Fans of this period were typically large (this fan is 24 inches wide) and often produced to match a particular outfit, as this fan may have been. Alternatively, it could have been produced for use in an interior. The color scheme of browns with highlights of red, cream, blue, and pink is also typical of the style, as seen in the work of designers of the period such as Kate Greenaway and Walter Crane.
This object was
donated by
Heather Sandifer.
It is credited Gift of Heather Sandifer.
- Plate (England)
- glazed earthenwarewith transfer-printed decoration.
- Gift of the Brooklyn Museum of Art, Paul F. Walter Collection.
- 1999-42-15
- Katagami, Fans and Flowers on Trellis
- cut mulberry paper treated with persimmon tannin and silk thread.
- Gift of Helen Snyder.
- 1976-103-122
- Katagami, Fans and Chrysanthemums
- cut mulberry paper treated with persimmon tannin and silk thread.
- Gift of Helen Snyder.
- 1976-103-207
Its dimensions are
H x W: 34.3 × 61.6 cm (13 1/2 × 24 1/4 in.)
Cite this object as
Folding Fan; printed cotton leaf on obverse with dyed and glazed cotton leaf on reverse; narrow woven binding at edge of leaf; ebonized wood sticks with wood slips; metal loop and bone washer at the rivet.; H x W: 34.3 × 61.6 cm (13 1/2 × 24 1/4 in.); Gift of Heather Sandifer; 2016-9-1
This object was previously on display as a part of the exhibition Passion for the Exotic: Japonism.
