An extraordinary fan, China, Canton, ca 1850 Though usually the carved fans in bone or other noble materials are much sought after, the wooden ones are much rarer. Thisone has beautifully and intricately carved sticks and guards. The guards even three dimentionally carved. The leaf is of lacquered silk. And the many persons are not painted but applied. The clothes are clipped out of silk and the faces of another material with the faces painted on. Some of these faces are missing. All in all a very unusual item. Note that some sticks have a repair and the finial rings of the pivot are missing.