Description:
Chinese export brise (French for broken) or folding sandlewood fan, with 19 sticks and 2 guard sticks, carved and pierced with Chinese figures and landscape scenes. The fan was sold at Amherst Auction Galleries, June 12, 1976, as part of the estate of Mary W. (Mollie) Wells of Deerfield, the great granddaughter of Augustus Wells (1798-1861)), the eldest surviving son of Samuel Wells and Esther Arms Wells of Deerfield, and Miranda Wells. Sandalwood (Santalum freycinetianum), a fragrant tree growing mainly in the Sandwich Islands (Hawaii), was one of the few trade goods for which the Chinese would barter. Highly valued for the construction of chests, boxes, and fans, sandalwood also served in its powdered form as a perfume, medicine, and incense. As the first profitable commodity exported from the Hawaiian Islands, sandalwood continued to be harvested between 1790 and 1840, until the viable sources were all but exhausted.
Link to share this object record:
https://museums.fivecolleges.edu/detail.php?t=objects&type=ext&id_number=HD+76.046 |
