Irony, play and compassion
Fans and leisure
As an iconic 'image of leisure,' the shape of fans migrated to other places, becoming, for instance, a common form of a window in houses and gardens. Fans also provided the form for everyday objects such as boxes, trays and pots. In such cases, fans came to signify a lifestyle and an attitude, placing thoughts of leisure in our midst.
A striking example of using a fan to suggest a mood of literati leisure is seen in this Ming album where the outer box has a fan mounted to its interior, wrapping the contents. The album inside continues the bucolic mood this suggests, being a set of poetic exchanges each inscribed on an ersatz tree leaf.
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| Drawing of lattice circa 1900 | CHEN Yuansu 陳元素 (17th century) Fan leaf by Chen, and correspondence to Chen Ink on leaf-shaped paper Private collection |