Fan (Uchiwa; Dansen)

Recataloged as ethnology # 4025 in 1867. recataloging cancelled in 1969. cancelled number, in brackets, remains on object.

From card: "cylindrical bamboo, handle finely split to be spread into the semi square shape onto which is glued the paper surfaces. front is painted with the bust portrait of a Japanese woman, in browns blues, and tan. with it several inscribed plaques on it. back sparsely painted with a few flowers and a stoppered gourd. lower edge slightly damaged."

Woodcut artist of the print on the obverse of the fan: Utagawa Kuniyoshi; reverse is a color print of a painting by Utagawa Hiroshige II.

This fan was collected by Commodore Mathew Perry during his Japan Expedition (1853-1854) that brought an end to Japan's two centuries of self-imposed isolation from the western world, beginning a lasting diplomatic, economic and cultural relationship between two Pacific Rim nations. The objects collected from that expedition became the founding items of the Smithsonian Institution's anthropology collections. See Chang-Su Houchins. 1995. Artifacts of Diplomacy: Smithsonian Collections from Commodore Matthew Perry's Japan Expedition (1853-1854). Smithsonian Contributions to Anthropology, Number 37. P 82 and 83