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UTAGAWA KUNIHISA (1832-91)
Japanese folding fan (ogi): flying a kite (recto) and Mount Fuji (verso)
circaCream silk painted in watercolour and bodycolour over black ink (fan leaf ); ivory, mother-of-pearl, shell, cellulose based plastic, gold lacquer, bamboo, silver, red silk (guards and sticks) | 30 cm (Length) (guardstick) | RCIN 25232
Japanese fans were exported to Europe in large numbers by the early twentieth century. This example was possibly bought by Queen Mary, who frequently purchased netsuke, inrō and other East Asian wares from fashionable dealers such as Yamanaka & Co. on Bond Street.
