A SELECTION of fans of the Ming and Qing dynasties, all of high artistic value and decorated with Chinese painting and calligraphy, is on display at the Xubaizhai Gallery of Chinese Painting and Calligraphy at the Hong Kong Museum of Art.
Artists represented include famous names such as Tang Yin, Wen Zhengming and his family, Shitao and Hongren of the ''Four Monks'', Wang Duo and Wang Wehzhi.
Fans have long been a medium of artistic expression. When fans were put in the hands of Chinese scholars, they became an important genre of literary art.
Chinese fan paintings encompass a fascinating array of subjects and styles. Despite the small scale, fans were used for expressions of personal sentiment, symbolism and literary allusions.
The degree of personal participation in the creation, as well as the appreciation of these objects, reveals an important aspect of the spirit of literary arts.
Most of the works in this exhibition are folded fans while some are oval in shape. There are also examples of fans of the 20th century.
