Unfolding Pictures: The Macao Fan, 1840

Macao Fan, 1840
Queen Victoria, by whom bequeathed to
King Edward VII, by whom given to Queen Alexandra, 1901.
Crown Copyright
The Royal Collection
Image courtesy of:
Her Majesty, Queen Elizabeth II

This Cantonese fan, known as “The Macao Fan” was made in 1840 of paper leaf with lacquered bamboo guards and sticks. It features a silk tassel supporting beads of pink tourmaline.

The fan was made for Queen Victoria who, in 1901, bequeathed it to her eldest son, Albert Edward (King Edward VII) who, in turn, presented the fan to his wife, Queen Alexandra.

This fan is a high-quality example of the Cantonese fans produced in the 1830s and 1840s. This fan, like others from Canton, depicts a large number of figures in which the faces are painted on tiny pieces of ivory and the clothes are made of real silk which are pasted onto the paper ground.

At either side of the central scene, in which a magistrate greets his son who has returned home on a white horse, are views of Macao. The Royal Collection states, “The Cantonese origin of this fan is confirmed through the survival of the original coloured lacquer box, finely decorated with Oriental figures, flowers and buildings. On the base of the inside of the box is the trade label of the shop (Volong) in Canton which supplied the fan.”