Chinese Silk & Bamboo Fan – Cherry Blossom

Description

A chinese silk bamboo fan opens with a sound like a held breath releasing. This one carries cherry blossom on stretched silk, the petals pale against a cream ground, the bamboo ribs fanning to their full arc in a single fluid motion.

The folding fan entered China during the Song dynasty, brought by traders from Japan and Korea, and was absorbed so completely into court and literati culture that it became an emblem of refined taste. By the Ming period, fan-making guilds in Suzhou and Hangzhou had codified the proportion of rib to leaf, the correct tension of the silk, and the seasonal subjects appropriate to each register. Cherry blossom, the bloom Chinese painters rendered as meihua, signals the fullness and brevity of beauty: a subject chosen precisely because it does not last.

The ribs are split bamboo, selected for straightness and flexibility, sanded smooth and lightly lacquered. The outer guards are slightly heavier than the inner ribs to protect the leaf in transit. The silk is hand-stretched across the frame while damp, then dried under tension to remove any wave and create the taut surface the print requires. Open span is approximately 38 cm; folded length is approximately 22 cm. The pivot rivet is brass. Total weight is under 60 grams. The fan operates smoothly and is designed for use as well as display.

Chinese silk bamboo fan with cherry blossom pattern. Split bamboo ribs, silk leaf, brass pivot rivet. Open span approximately 38 cm, folded length approximately 22 cm. Under 60 grams. Origin: China. Traditional folding fan format.

A fan made to be used. Cherry blossom on silk, every fold clean and deliberate. Centuries of craft folded into one gesture.