Praised for its ease of use and portability, the folding fan gained widespread popularity around the Ming period and gradually became a cherished accessory among the imperial court and literati, serving as an elegant companion carried in the sleeve. Its surface provided a unique canvas for artistic expression, opening up a spiritual realm of its own. Through the interplay of masterful brushwork and artisanal skill, the folding fan has far surpassed its utilitarian origin to become a distinctive bearer of Chinese aesthetic ideals.
The preservation of folding fans poses particular challenges due to their distinctive form, while painting on curved surface tests even accomplished artists’ compositional skills. The assembly of a coherent collection of folding fans by modern art masters is therefore both rare and remarkable. Since 2021, renowned Hong Kong collector Dr Leo Wong Kwai-kuen has generously donated his Jingguanlou Collection to the Hong Kong Museum of Art. This important gift of over one thousand sets of items focuses on twentieth-century Chinese painting and calligraphy, with an especially rich selection of folding fans and fan leaves from the late Qing period to the modern era, representing a wide range of subjects by celebrated artists. This exhibition, presented in two phases, features a selection of over 150 folding fans from the Jingguanlou Collection, complemented by Chinese paintings from the museum collection. It invites you to explore a “universe contained within a palm’s width” and to appreciate the cultivated elegance of the Chinese literati.