Fan

Unknown

ca. 1925 · wood, ivory, silk, paper · Costume Institute

This is a fascinating example of one of the many items made during the Egypto-mania period of the 1920s after King Tutankhamen’s tomb was discovered in 1922. The pierced sandalwood sticks and very finely crafted cut-out silver paper creating the frieze-like Art Deco decoration that moves across the fan leaf mark it as a Japanese-made object. While it may have been made for the Western market, it could also have been made for the domestic market, as interest in Western art and culture was beginning to take hold in Japan at that time.

Artist

Unknown

Date

ca. 1925

Medium

wood, ivory, silk, paper

Culture

Japanese

Department

Costume Institute

Credit line

Brooklyn Museum Costume Collection at The Metropolitan Museum of Art, Gift of the Brooklyn Museum, 2009; Gift of Mrs. William Rockefeller and Mrs. James VanKennen, 1972