Fan Paintings 扇面
Fifteen paintings in the shape of an open fan. They come from the same years and the same studio as the Guanyin, and they are where Xiang Li paints everything else: a hillside in autumn, a herd of oxen, three piglets, a tiger asleep in bamboo.
- Fan paintings
- 15
- Still available
- 14
- Inches, mounted
- 19 × 11
- The format
- 扇面
A fan you were never meant to wave
扇面 — shànmiàn, “fan face” — is a painting format, not a fan. The shape comes from the folding fan, and for centuries a painter would decorate a real one for a friend or a patron; the good ones were then taken off the sticks almost immediately and mounted flat, because nobody wants to wear out a painting in the summer heat. What survives in collections is the leaf, not the fan.
These fifteen are painted for the shape rather than for the object. Each one is worked on the arc and then mounted on brocade — the gold, ochre and green grounds you can see around them are part of the finished work, not a photographer's backdrop.
The format is unforgiving in a specific way: the picture area curves, the top edge is longer than the bottom, and the two ends taper to nothing. A composition that would sit comfortably in a rectangle falls apart in it. Almost everything here is arranged to run along the curve — the oxen file across it, the hillside leans into it, the ribbons of a flying figure follow it from one end to the other.
Walking in the Fall · 19 × 11 in
寫意
Looser than the Guanyin
Xiang Li's Guanyin paintings are gongbi 工筆 — the fine outline, filled with ground mineral pigment over five or six layers, months of work. The fans are mostly not. Several are done in the loose, fast manner, where the brush is loaded once and the shape has to arrive in a few strokes or not at all.
It is the same hand and the same training, working at the other end of its range. If you have looked at the Guanyin first, the tiger in bamboo and the herd of oxen are the useful comparison: nothing is drawn twice.
- Format
- 扇面 fan leaf, mounted on brocade
- Size
- 19 × 11 in mounted
- Medium
- Ink and watercolor, some with mineral pigment
- Finish
- Pre-mounted, ready to frame
- Marks
- Signed, and sealed 李湘 in cinnabar
19 × 11 in
The fan leaves
15 paintings
Three of the fifteen carry titles Xiang Li gave them. The rest are described rather than named — a fan leaf was rarely titled at all.
Walking in the Fall · 19 × 11 in
Piglets at Play · 19 × 11 in
Humming bird and lotus · 19 × 11 in
Untitled · 19 × 11 in
Untitled · 19 × 11 in
Untitled · 19 × 11 in
Untitled · 19 × 11 in
Untitled · 19 × 11 in
Untitled · 19 × 11 in
Untitled · 19 × 11 in
Untitled · 19 × 11 in
Sold
Untitled · 19 × 11 in
Bought for a hospital — where these paintings tend to end up.
Collection of UMass hospitals
Untitled · 19 × 11 in
Untitled · 19 × 11 in
Untitled · 19 × 11 in
These are the paintings, not prints of them
Each fan leaf is unique and already mounted, so it needs a frame and nothing else. Price depends on the work and is quoted on request.
Write to the studio and we will tell you what is still available and send full-resolution photographs of anything you want to look at properly.
or write to xiangliart@gmail.com
Questions
What is a fan painting?
A painting made in the shape of a fan leaf — 扇面 in Chinese. The format comes from the folding fan, and the paintings were often mounted flat rather than fitted to sticks, which is how they survive. These fifteen are mounted on brocade and framed like any other painting.
Are they Guanyin paintings?
No. They come from the same studio and the same years as the Guanyin collection, and they were photographed together, but the subjects are landscapes, animals, flowers and court figures. The Guanyin paintings have their own page.
How big are they?
19 × 11 inches mounted — the fan leaf plus the brocade around it. They are the smallest original works Xiang Li offers, which makes them the usual first painting for someone starting a collection.
How much is one?
Quoted on request rather than listed. Write to the studio naming the painting and we will come back with the price and whether it is still available.
Bring one home
Canvas prints, scarves, puzzles and more — from $14.
Two full-color hardcovers — 217 empresses, 413 painted characters.
Questions? Write to xiangliart@gmail.com