Chinese Fan-Form Painting by Liu Hong Wei, Framed

Two white blossoms lean together on a fan of faded paper.

This fan-form painting comes from Guangdong Province, China, painted on paper and set in a wooden frame. Fan-shaped paintings were popular in Chinese art and were often displayed as albums or hung, with flowers a favored theme. Here, large pale green leaves and white lily-like blooms are painted in soft washes against a warm, mottled ground. A small column of calligraphy and a red seal mark appear at the right, and another red stamp sits at lower left. The frame is a polished brown with a wide cream mat.

About seventeen inches high and twenty-nine wide. Quiet, cool and quite content to be looked at slowly.