China, Cantonese toirtoiseshell and filigree enamel fan, early 19th century

Chinese export fan typically carved in shallow relief with a figurative scene within a Southern Chinese landscape. The first and final sticks are thicker and decorated with small reserves with the same kind of decor. Around them, an elaborate high relief filigree with blue enamel is applied.

A similar tortoiseshell fan but without the filigree, is in the collection of the Peabody Museum of Salem, illustrated by C.L.Crossman, The Decorative Arts of the China Trade, Suffolk, 1997, pl.195. See also A.G.Bennett, Unfolding Beauty, the Art of the Fan, Boston, 1998, p.79 for an example from the collection of Esther Oldham in the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston; and also N.J.Irons, Fans of Imperial China, Hong Kong, 1982, pp.51,53,55 and 105 for similar brisé fan but none with the filigree and enamel decor.
24 x 41 x 2,5 cm