This fan is a flowers-and-birds painting, the Chinese picture made to be unrolled or unpinned a section at a time rather than seen all at once. the Imperial painter’s hand that made it assumed a viewer in motion.
The flowers and birds subject is the excuse. What the Imperial dynasty painter sold was a way of looking, disciplined and unhurried.
Chinese painting treated the picture as a record of seeing, not a window onto the world.
A fan like this was made to be handed on, not framed forever. The flowers-and-birds painting still asks you to slow down, which is the whole point.
Object details
| Name | Wang Jie flower and bird fan (王杰花鸟扇) |
|---|---|
| Artefact no. | 新00194461 |
| Technique | Flowers-and-birds painting (花鸟) |
| Period | Imperial dynasty |
| Collection | The Palace Museum, Beijing |
| Source | Palace Museum Digital Collection (数字文物库) |
Image © The Palace Museum. View the original in the Palace Museum Digital Collection.