Artist: Jin Xiya
Date: 1935
Size: 27 x 36 cm
Technique: Carved
This work captures a subtle sense of humor of Jin Xiya, the finest bamboo artist active in twentieth-century China. One of the outer ribs depicts a group of foods that ripen with the approach of summer. This subject, known as jianchun, literally, “a farewell meal to spring,” is a common literati theme. In addition to the normal seasonal vegetables and fruits of this season—bamboo shoots and cherries—the artist has inserted a pufferfish (hetun, fugu in Japanese). Consuming these fish can be lethal without professional preparation, but it is a famous delicacy in both China and Japan. The unconventional addition of this fish was undoubtedly intended as a playful surprise! Jin’s archive records that this folding fan was a gift to his teenage daughter, which may explain why such an amusing and personal design was selected.According to the archival list of Jin’s works (fan frame #191), the bamboo carving of spider and bamboo was completed on November 5, 1933, and the carving of spring foods was completed on December 21, 1933.
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