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Embroidered fan with landscape: Ancient Mountains, Green Pines, Qing dynasty (1644–1911), 19th century
China
Fan: silk embroidery on silk gauze; rim and handle: lacquered wood; 16 x 10 1/2 in. (40.6 x 26.7 cm)
Gift of Edna Bahr, 1962 (62.97.25a)

At first glance, this fan looks like a small landscape painting, but actually the landscape design was delicately embroidered with fine polychrome silk on undyed silk gauze. Also embroidered are the inscription and seal. The first line of the inscription, gu yue cang song (ancient mountains, green pines), gives a title to the piece. The second line provides a cyclical date corresponding to 1891, 1831, 1771, etc., most likely referring to one of the nineteenth-century alternatives. Instead of an artist's name, the seal consists of the character shou (longevity).


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    Embroidered fan with landscape: Ancient Mountains, Green Pines, Qing dynasty (1644–1911), 19th century
    China
    Fan: silk embroidery on silk gauze; rim and handle: lacquered wood; 16 x 10 1/2 in. (40.6 x 26.7 cm)
    Gift of Edna Bahr, 1962 (62.97.25a)