Chinese Lacquer Fans: Materials, Making and Living Traditions

Published by Anthony
on November 13, 2026

Explore how Chinese lacquer fans carry decoration on their sticks, guards or leaves, from Qing export fans to the marbled surfaces of contemporary workshops.

Quick Answer: What Are Chinese Lacquer Fans?

Chinese lacquer fans (漆扇, qīshàn) use lacquer-related decoration on some part of the fan. On many Qing export examples, a lacquered wooden surface carries black and gold designs. In contemporary workshops, the name often refers to a flat fan whose face takes up a marbled pattern from the surface of water. ^{[1][2][3][4][5]}

Sticks: Lacquer can cover the moving wooden parts.
Leaf: A folding fan can have a separate surface supported by the sticks.
Marbling: Floating color can be transferred to the face of a modern fan. ^[1][2][4][5]

Find the part that carries the design before identifying the method. ^[1][2][4]

Chinese lacquer fan sticks guards paper leaf and floating marbled color

Look closely at an open fan and follow a line of decoration. On a wooden fan it may break where one stick ends and the next begins. On a paper face, a band of color may cross the whole surface. Those lines give you a way to identify how the image was made.

The Parts of a Fan That Carry Lacquer

On a folding fan with a leaf, the sticks open around a pivot and support a surface such as paper. The outer sticks are called guards. They enclose the rest when the fan is closed and may carry their own decoration. A leaf can have a painted picture while the lacquer is concentrated on the wooden supports. ^[2][3]

In a brisé fan, the broad sticks form the visible surface themselves. The Fitzwilliam Museum’s Cantonese example, dated to about 1820, has black lacquered wooden sticks and a red silk ribbon. The red ribbon links the sticks near their ends. Open the fan and the sticks spread into a surface, so each one contributes a narrow part of the scene. The two faces carry painted decoration. ^[1][3]

How Qing Export Fans Use Black and Gold

Qing export fans made in Guangzhou and other centers served overseas buyers. A study of surviving fans in Guangdong collections identifies several arrangements for lacquer decoration, from broadly painted sets of sticks to fans with decoration confined to selected areas. This placement determines how much of a design can be seen when the fan is closed or partly opened. Landscapes, figures, animals and ornamental borders could be positioned across the opened fan or on details that remain visible when it closes. ^[1][3]

The Fitzwilliam fan has painted scenes on its sticks and raised gold ornament near their ends. The Fan Museum in Greenwich records another Cantonese fan from about 1860 to 1870 with black and gold lacquer and a painted double paper leaf. On the brisé fan, parts of a painted scene are separated by the joints between sticks. On the later example, the paper supports a picture of its own. ^[1][2]

How Floating Color Reaches a Fan Leaf

In the contemporary method commonly called floating lacquer (漂漆, piāoqī), colored material spreads across the water into lines and patches. The face of a fan picks up part of that arrangement as it comes into contact with the surface. A wave or curl may be visible even where no line was drawn directly on the fan. ^[4][5]

The movement of the film changes the shapes and edges of the colors. Two fans made in the same workshop can therefore carry different outlines and patches. The China National Arts and Crafts Society places this practice in the context of natural lacquer, while describing recent public fan activities as simplified adaptations. The water pattern gives a clue to transfer. To identify the coating, use the maker’s description or materials record. That distinction matters when comparing different forms of Chinese lacquerware and decorative surfaces. ^[4][5]

Lacquer Fans in Museum Workshops

In 2024, Changde Museum introduced young participants to lacquer objects in the galleries before they worked on fans. Its account describes participants adding their own drawings to white fan faces, then transferring floating colors. This format links looking at a museum surface with making a new design on a different object. ^[5]

An interview with lacquer art professor Pu Meihe also documented renewed public interest in lacquer fans in 2024. The workshop and the object records offer two ways to see where the color sits. One lets participants watch a pattern pass onto the face. The other describes how the lacquer, sticks, guards and leaf fit together on surviving fans. ^[4][6]

FAQs About Chinese Lacquer Fans

Do all Chinese lacquer fans have paper leaves?

A folding fan may have a paper leaf. In a brisé fan, broad sticks make up the fan surface, as the examples at the Fitzwilliam and Fan Museum show. ^[1][2][7]

Is a black-and-gold lacquer fan made by water marbling?

The historical examples here use techniques such as painting and raised gold ornament on lacquered parts. Water marbling transfers floating color to a fan face. ^[1][3][4][5]

Does the name lacquer fan identify the exact coating?

The name describes the type of decoration. The exact material is best established from an object record or a maker’s account, especially for a contemporary workshop example. ^[1][2][4][5]