Traditional Chinese Folding Fan

Description

A traditional Chinese folding fan opens with the clean resistance of lacquered bamboo ribs and the soft give of silk damask. The weight in the hand is precise: neither too light to command attention nor too heavy for an afternoon’s continual use.

Folding fans entered Chinese court life during the Song dynasty and became essential objects for scholars, painters, and officials across the Ming and Qing periods. The form traveled to Japan in the Heian period and returned enriched before establishing itself as a medium for ink wash painting and calligraphy in the studios of Suzhou and Hangzhou. This fan is produced in Hangzhou, where artisans have woven silk for the imperial court since the Tang dynasty, maintaining a lineage of silk damask weaving uninterrupted for over a thousand years.

The fan opens to a radius of 26cm and spans 46cm at full extension. Ribs are formed from Moso bamboo, kiln-dried and hand-lacquered to resist humidity and warping. The silk damask panel is stretched and cold-glued, without heat-pressing, to preserve the weave structure. Available in several pattern designs, each woven rather than printed, creating surface texture visible at close range. When folded, the fan measures 27cm in length. Weight: approximately 45 grams. The pivot pin is brass, hand-riveted.

Traditional Chinese folding fan. Materials: Moso bamboo ribs, silk damask panel, brass pivot pin. Open radius: 26cm. Full span: 46cm. Folded length: 27cm. Weight: 45g. Woven silk panel, not printed. Several pattern designs available. Produced in Hangzhou, China.

Woven, not printed. Lacquered by hand, not by machine. A functional object with a thousand years of craft behind it.