Folding Fan with Painting and Calligraphy

Chinese

1869

Ink and color on paper with bamboo

Saint Louis Art Museum

A closed folding fan is displayed against a neutral gray background. The fan is decorated with painted imagery and calligraphy. This folding fan features a painting of butterflies and flowers accompanied by an inscription on one side. On the reverse, the calligraphy transcribes 14 five-character regulated verses (each with a total of 40 characters) by the poet Cen Shen (715–770) of the Tang dynasty, and also includes a dedicatory inscription. The fan has two thick bamboo outer guards as well as 28 thin bamboo inner ribs. Two fan-shaped sheets of paper—one for the painting and the other for the calligraphy—are pasted on either side of the ribs. The outer and…