1
The Vocabulary of Fashion: Word-Image Play in
Southern Song Painted Fans
Ankeney Weitz
Colby College, Waterville, ME, USA
In Song dynasty China, painted fans were common personal accessories, as
prevalent as our wrist watches or eyeglasses are today. By the end of the Song when the
capital city at Hangzhou boasted a population of over one million people, the annual
production of painted fans throughout China must have been in the millions. Reading
records in Song gazetteers of fan shops and markets spread out across the capital city,
some of which specialized in fans from specific towns at some distance from the capital,
we get the strong impression that the circular fan was the most prevalent painting format
of the Southern Song period. Indeed, art historians are wont to use fan paintings as
evidence for Song dynasty painting practices in general, mainly because a great quantity
of Song dynasty fans survives in excellent condition, their preservation owing in large
part to the protectiveness of the albums into which later collectors mounted them.1
However, situating the painted fan as a painting within a range of other works done
wi
t
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i
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rpa
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e
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t
a
nd
i
ngo
ft
he
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epa
i
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’or
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function as quotidian clothing accessories. I
fwef
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a
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e
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ys
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i
pa
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yt
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nt
album and scroll mounts, if we then envision the painting on a bamboo frame, we can
begin to imagine it in the hand of a Song lady or gentleman where it serves as a form of
wearable art. With this shift in the positional space of the painting, we also must consider
the choice of subjects on the painted fans within the context of their use. This paper looks
a
tt
h
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a
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on
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a
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preliminary comments regarding the range of images. The presentation will culminate in
a consideration of the possible use of word-play within some fan images, looking at the
visual representation of verbal phrases through metaphor, allusion, punning, and rebuses.
According to costume historians, based on observations from paintings and from
tomb excavations, dress codes of the Southern Song remained fairly conservative
throughout the period, with a preference for monochrome garments in muted tones
dominating the apparel of all social strata.2 The handheld fan, owing to its portability and
replaceability, performed a major role in the world of personal fashion and adornment.
Everyone in the social hierarchy, from the emperor to the lowliest workman used fans;
thus, fans served as an all-purpose sign of an individual's place or role in society. A few
2
Song paintings evoke some of the ways that fans served as status markers. One of the
r
a
r
e
s
tSo
ngdy
na
s
t
yf
a
nswa
si
ns
c
r
i
b
e
dbyt
h
ee
mp
e
r
ori
n“
f
l
y
i
ngwh
i
t
e
”c
a
l
l
i
g
r
a
phy–
usually one or two large characters quickly brushed –which he bestowed on graduates of
the palace exams and on important officials receiving new positions in the court.3 We
also find paintings of actors bearing fans indicating their roles, or merchants with fans
indicating their line of products.
One of the most common subjects painted on fans was landscape. According to
Song gazetteers, shops specializing in landscape fans could be found in the major cities;4
a large number of fans made in the imperial workshops also featured landscapes and were
given to officials, especially on the festival day of the Double Fifth. 5 Some of these fans
bestowed by the emperor bore allusions to famous poetic lines, particularly of the Tang
poets Du Fu, Li Bai, and Wang Wei. One well-known fan in this category is Ma Lin's
painting, "Scholar Reclining and Watching Rising Clouds," now in the Cleveland
Museum of Art, a relatively rare example of a poetic inscription (a couplet by Wang Wei
written out by Lizong) and its paired image surviving together.6 To the left we see the
inscription bestowing this imperial fan on the official (Zhongkui). This type of fan served
as an emblem of official rank rather than an object of daily use, which probably explains
the fine condition in which it remains today.
Song emperors distributed fans with other motifs on other occasions; for instance,
Lee Hui-shu has documented one Southern Song court extravaganza the emperor
distributed fans painted with cassia blossoms to the assembled officials and court ladies.7
At this particular event, the emperor called the painters to the garden during the party and
ordered them to paint the fans, but in most cases painters working in the imperial
workshops made many copies of the same image as gifts for special occasions. Once
these fans left the palace in the hand of a court official, they became the target of copiers,
commercial painters serving the desires of commoners eager to obtain the latest in high
fashion. Evidence that fads swept rapidly through the Southern Song capital city comes
f
r
omHongMa
i
’
sj
ot
t
i
ng
s
;heno
t
e
dt
h
a
ti
nHa
ng
z
ho
u,
Adornments which make their appearance in the Rear Palace (ie. Empress's
quarters) in the morning will have become the fashion among the commoners by
evening. What is manufactured yesterday for those in high places will be spread
throughout the capital tomorrow."8
3
The art critic Deng Chun also wrote that when the last Northern Song Emperor
Huizong painted a fan, the palace ladies and court attendants would vie to copy it,
sometimes producing hundreds of replicas.9 The rushed reproduction of a single fan –
both in the refined environment of the court and in the hurly-burly of the street market -points towards a growing fashion competition, but also explains the survival of fans of
very similar subject and composition today.
Some of the iconography of Song fans can be explained within the cycle of annual
festivals; for instance paintings in the five colors of protective Daoist or Buddhist deities
were common gifts for the Double Fifth Festival. Fiery red pomegranate blossoms (shiliu)
whose bright color scared away evil spirits, as well as lotuses (he) and lichees (lizhi) were
common on fans exchanged on the Double Fifth.10 In Tang sources we find these DoubleFi
f
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a
nsc
a
l
l
e
d“
wa
v
i
nga
wa
ye
v
i
l
”f
a
ns
,a
ndt
he
s
es
ubj
e
c
t
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r
ec
ho
s
e
ns
pe
c
i
f
i
c
a
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l
yf
or
11
their apotropaic power.
Because certain decorative motifs served specific symbolic needs during the
seasonal calendar, we see repetitive designs among surviving fans. However, we also see
peculiar combinations of elements recurring among fans, an observation which calls for a
closer consideration of the visual representation of verbal phrases through metaphor,
allusion, and puns. Given restrictions of time and space, I will highlight only a few cases;
however, I believe that quite a few more fan paintings may ultimately prove to contain
visual-verbal plays.
The inspiration for this line of investigation comes from the work of Qianshen Bai
and Maggie Bickford, both of whom have explored the use of verbal-visual play in Song
de
c
or
a
t
i
vevo
c
a
b
ul
a
r
y
.Pr
of
.Ba
i
’
sr
e
s
e
a
r
c
honSongdy
na
s
t
yr
e
b
us
e
sf
oc
us
e
sonaf
a
n
i
ma
g
eo
ft
h
r
e
eg
i
bb
onsr
a
i
di
ngahe
r
o
n’
sne
s
t(
s
anyuan delu, 三猿得鷺), a word-image
c
ombi
na
t
i
ont
h
a
tr
hy
me
swi
t
h“
a
t
t
a
i
ni
ngape
r
f
e
c
ts
c
or
eo
nt
h
ec
i
vi
ls
e
r
v
i
c
ee
xa
m”
12
(sanyuan delu 三元得祿). Bi
c
k
f
or
d’
si
n
ve
s
t
i
ga
t
i
onofr
a
mi
ma
g
e
r
y(
yang 羊) and
bo
t
a
ni
c
a
li
ma
g
e
r
y(
e
s
pe
c
i
a
l
l
yt
he“
Th
r
e
eFr
i
e
ndsofWi
n
t
e
r
”suihan sanyou 歲寒三友)
also expands on the use of metaphors that extended beyond Chinese painting into other
decorative arts.13
Le
t
’
sl
ooka
tal
ove
l
ypa
i
nt
i
ngf
r
om t
hec
ur
r
e
n
te
xhi
bi
t
i
o
n,awo
r
ka
t
t
r
i
bu
t
e
dt
oHa
n
Yu containing two cicada and a watermelon with curling tendrils emphatically stretching
across the composition; this work can be paired with a very similar composition on a fan
painting also in the National Palace Museum, but without attribution. We can add to these
several paintings of katydids paired with other insects such as crickets and grasshoppers.
4
Several scholars have already pointed out the literary origins of the symbolism in the
Book of Odes 詩經.
Th
es
p
e
c
i
f
i
cr
e
f
e
r
e
nc
ehe
r
ei
st
ot
h
ep
oe
m“
Ka
t
y
d
i
d
s
”螽斯:
螽斯羽, 薨薨兮. 宜爾子孫,繩繩兮.
螽斯羽,揖揖兮. 宜爾子孫,蟄蟄兮.14
Le
g
g
e
’
st
r
a
ns
l
ation reads:15
Ye locusts, winged tribes,
How harmoniously you collect together!
Right is it that your descendants
Should be multitudinous!
Ye locusts, winged tribes,
How sound your wings in flight!
Right is it that your descendents
Should be as in unbroken strings!
Melons also feature in the Book of Odes,
綿綿瓜瓞。
民之初生、自土沮漆。
古公亶父、陶父陶穴、未有家室。16
In long trains ever increasing grow the gourds.
When [our] people first sprang,
From the country about the Ju and the Qi,
The ancient duke Tan-fu,
Made for them kiln-like huts and caves,
Ere they had yet any houses.17
Paintings of melons and katydids evoked these poetic allusions and thus
communicated the wish for many progeny. We do know that fans were among the many
betrothal gifts exchanged between the bride and groom, and thus, I suspect that these
works paintings of were probably suitable wedding gifts, for they expressed hopes for
ma
ny c
hi
l
d
r
e
ne
xp
r
e
s
s
i
ng s
ome
t
hi
ng l
i
k
e“
ma
yy
ourof
f
s
pr
i
ng bea
snume
r
o
usa
s
k
a
t
y
di
ds
,a
n
dma
yy
o
url
i
neo
fd
e
s
c
e
nd
e
nt
sc
on
t
i
nu
eunb
r
ok
e
n
.
”
5
Another appropriate subject for women's fans was the“
t
wog
i
r
l
s
--f
i
veb
oy
s
”t
he
me
(二女五男扇); these fans were presented to the future bride by the groom's family three
days before the wedding. 18 The o
r
i
g
i
no
ft
hi
st
h
e
me c
ome
sf
r
om Hua
ng
f
u Mi
’
s
c
omme
nt
a
r
yont
h
epoe
mf
r
om t
heBo
okofOde
st
i
t
l
e
d“
HowGr
e
a
ti
st
ha
tLuxu
r
i
a
n
c
e
,
”
19
(何彼襛矣序); Huangfu notes that King Wu had five sons and two daughters. By Song
times, the phrase was widely used to denote many offspring. Although coins, mirror, and
other items may have simply been inscribed with the four-character phrase, some painted
images do indeed depict five boys and two girls.
Certain floral motifs or combinations of flowers as specific to annual festival days
or seasons; however, some of these fans have very specific meanings within Song social
rituals. 20 For instance, in Xihu laoren fansheng lu,“
Br
i
ng
i
ngas
on”宜男扇 fans are
listed as a particular sort of good available in the capital; they appear alongside such
miscellaneous items as mother-of-pearl inlaid armchairs, chess sets, and Daoist fans (道
扇兒).21 So,wha
tk
i
ndoft
hi
ngwa
sa“
br
i
ng
i
ngas
on”f
a
n
?I
’
mf
a
i
r
l
ycertain that these
fans bore images of daylilies 萱草, which were called wangyou cao 忘憂草 “
f
o
r
g
e
t
t
i
ng
s
or
r
owsg
r
a
s
s
.
”Be
c
a
us
eofi
t
sn
a
mea
n
di
t
sr
a
p
i
dr
e
pr
od
uc
t
i
ont
h
r
o
ug
ht
ube
r
o
usr
oot
s
,
the daylily became a powerful charm for pregnant women, many of whom would sport a
sprig of daylily to ensure that their worries would soon be ended with birth of a male
child. The daylily was also called yinan cao 宜男草 “
b
r
i
ng
i
ngboy
sg
r
a
s
s
.”
A ve
r
ye
a
r
l
yc
a
t
e
g
or
yoff
a
ni
ma
g
e
r
ywa
s“
c
i
c
a
daa
ndbi
r
d
”蟬雀 ; in fact, the
earliest record of a painted fan, from the history of the Southern Dynasties during the
Period of Division specifically names the subject as cicada and bird.22 Although by the
Song this term came to mean the general category of bird and insect paintings, I wonder
if it might also have had literary connotations, especially in its earliest iteration. The story
concerns a fan painting by a court painter named Gu Jingxiu which was given first to
Emperor Xiaowu by one of his generals. Later Emp. Xiaowu bestowed it upon his son-inlaw He Ji (who was married to his oldest child and was of dubious trustworthiness). From
a literary point of view, the theme of a bird hovering over a cicada comes from Zhuangzi.
In the story, Zhuang Zhou sees a large bird and follows it into a grove of chestnut trees.
There he finds the bird absorbed in watching other creatures:23
(Meanwhile) he saw a cicada, which had just alighted in a beautiful shady
spot, and forgot its (care for its) body. (Just then), a preying mantis raised its
feelers, and pounced on the cicada, in its eagerness for its prey, (also) forgetting
(its care for) its body; while the strange bird took advantage of its opportunity to
6
secure them both, in view of that gain forgetting its true (instinct of preservation).
Zhuang Zhou with an emotion of pity, said, 'Ah! so it is that things bring evil on
one another, each of these creatures invited its own calamity.'
The cicada-and-bird trope appears in at least one other story of military strategy, in
which a ruler, Ji Fucha (Wuwang Fucha), heeding the advice of his son Ji You, decides
against attacking an enemy for fear of an even larger enemy waiting to swoop down upon
his state.24 The theme thus has an admonitory flavor; it warns against being so focused on
one phenomenon that one fails to see the larger picture. Unfortunately, I have not
identified the specific context for the use of this imagery in the Southern Song.
Finally, I would like to consider the issue of puns in Song fan paintings. Bai
Qi
a
ns
h
e
n’
sc
on
vi
nc
i
ngi
d
e
nt
i
f
i
c
a
t
i
on of the sanyuan delü theme (which can be extended
to fans in which we just see three gibbons –sanyuan –referring to having a top score on
the exams), leads me to wonder if this rebus could be an isolated phenomenon. Other fans
may have hidden meanings as well. For instance, a beautiful fan image from the
e
xhi
bi
t
i
oni
st
he“
Shr
i
k
ewi
t
hBa
mbo
oa
ndBr
a
mb
l
e
s
”mi
g
hty
i
e
l
dapunf
o
rt
h
et
e
r
m主
伯, father and oldest son, another reference from the Book of Poetry. Or maybe we can
find its meaning in the phrase bozhong shuji “伯 仲 叔 季 ”(
伯 中 竹棘 ??) referring
originally to the princes of all countries (in the Zuochuan), and later meaning the
sequence of four male children.25 In either case, the imagery relates to the virtues of
filial and fraternal loyalty.
Another set of pictorial elements that we see repeated several times in Song
paintings, including on fans, is a mother dog with her three pups playing near hibiscus.
Why three puppies? And why do they often appear with hibiscus (furong 芙蓉)? In trying
to solve these questions, I found a reference from the Han dynasty dictionary Erya: 爾雅
26
“
犬生三，猣；二，師；一，玂。”
A dog that gives birth to three is called zong; two
is called shi; and one is called qi. One possible suggestion would be to read the images as
a pun for rongzong 榮宗,
hon
or
i
ngon
e
’
sa
nc
e
s
t
or
s
,a
si
nt
h
ep
hr
a
s
erongzong yaozu 榮宗
耀祖.
7
Conclusion
In many cases, reading the fan image as a metaphor, allusion, or pun allows us to
isolate it within certain seasonal or gendered uses, and thus we are able to situate what
looks like a generic theme within a range of social situations and clearly defined
functions. These meanings and functions have been essentially lost from our
consideration of fan images because so many of them were taken out of their original
handheld frame and divorced from their material culture context.
Another important goal in undertaking the identification of fan imagery is to
understand how pictorial idioms became standard motifs in later Ming and Qing visual
culture. Some of the auspicious imagery of those later periods had its origin in the Song
or earlier. The rise of a widespread culture of decorated fans during the Song increased
the opportunities for people to use pictures for personal adornment. As commoners,
scholar officials, and the imperial retinue explored the expressive potential of fans (a
format that naturally encouraged word-image combinations because of its two-sided
layout), the growth of auspicious word-image play became almost inevitable.
8
Endnotes
1
Many art historians have concerned themselves with the peculiar compositional
requirements of the fan format. John Hay, for instance proposed that the rise of the
round fan in the Song encouraged the development of small-scenes (xiaojing) and
di
a
g
ona
lc
ompos
i
t
i
ona
lmod
e
s
.Se
e
,“
Chi
ne
s
eFa
nPa
i
n
t
i
ng
s
”i
nChinese Painting and
Decorative Style, Colloquies on Art and Archaeology in Asia 5 (London, 1975), 106.
2
Zhou Xun and Gao Chunming, 5000 Years of Chinese Costumes (Hong Kong;
Commercial Press, 1987), 106.
3
The tradition began in the Tang dynasty, but became prevalent during the Song. See
Tang huiyao, j. 35. (唐會要卷 35).
4
Mengliang lu, 116-119. Xihu laoren fansheng lu, 105.
5
Lu Yuanming, Suishi shenji, quoted in Huang Shi, Duanwu lisi shi, 205-6.
6
To see this image, go to:
http://www.clevelandart.org/collections/collection%20online.aspx?pid={91ADCD8F992A-45A5-8599-70835467DF5E}&coid=3484843&clabel=highlights
7
Le
eHui
s
h
u,“
TheDoma
i
nofEmpr
e
s
sYa
ng
,
”quo
t
i
ngMengliang lu, 18:288
8
Hong Mai, Yijian zhi; quoted in Shiba, Commerce and Society, 204.
9
Deng Chun, Huaji, chapter 10, trans. By Robert J. Maeda, Two Twelfth Centruy Texts
on Chinese Painting (Ann Arbor: Michigan Papers in Chinese Studies 8, 1970). 61.
“
Du
r
i
ngt
h
eCh
e
ng
-ho era (1111-1117), each time the emperor painted a fan, [the
members of] the various residences of the Six Palaces competed in copying it,
oc
c
a
s
i
ona
l
l
yr
e
s
u
l
t
i
ngi
ns
e
ve
r
a
lhu
ndr
e
dc
opi
e
s
…”
10
Le
eHui
s
hu
,“
TheDoma
i
no
fEmpr
e
s
sYa
ng
,
”Ph.
D.d
i
s
s
e
r
t
a
t
i
on(
Ya
l
eUni
ve
r
s
i
t
y
,
1994), 59. She cites Mengliang lu, Suishi guangji, and Wulin jiushi.
11
Huang Shi, Duanwu lisu shi (Hongkong: Daixing shuju, 1963), 205. He quotes a Tang
s
o
ur
c
et
ha
tc
a
l
l
e
df
a
nsma
deont
hi
sda
y“
wa
vi
nga
wa
ye
vi
lf
a
ns
.
”
12
Ba
iQi
a
ns
he
n,“
I
ma
g
ea
sWor
d
:ASt
udyofRe
b
usPl
a
yi
nSo
ngPa
i
n
t
i
ng(
960
-1
279
)
,
”
Metropolitan Museum Journal 34 (1999), 57-72.
13
Ma
gg
i
eBi
c
kf
o
r
d
,“
Thr
e
eRa
msa
ndThr
e
eFr
i
e
nds
:Th
eWor
k
i
ngLi
ve
so
fChi
ne
s
e
Aus
p
i
c
i
o
usMo
t
i
f
s
,
”Asia Major 12:1 (1999), 127-158.
14
Shijing, (Guofeng, Zhounan) poem 5. Digital text at:
http://etext.virginia.edu/chinese/shijing/AnoShih.html
15
http://etext.virginia.edu/chinese/shijing/AnoShih.html (accessed Nov. 20, 2010).
16
Shijing,(Daya, Wenwang), poem 237. Digital text at
http://etext.virginia.edu/chinese/shijing/AnoShih.html
17
http://etext.virginia.edu/chinese/shijing/AnoShih.html
18
Mengliang lu, 188.
19
“
He
bin
ong
y
i
,
”Shijing (Guofeng, Zhounan), poem 24;
http://etext.virginia.edu/chinese/shijing/AnoShih.html.Gl
os
sof“
wunan ernü”f
r
om
Hanyu cidian, accessed online at:
http://www.zdic.net/cd/ci/4/ZdicE4ZdicBAZdic94328717.htm (Nov. 20, 2010).
20
Le
eHui
s
hu
,“
TheDoma
i
no
fEmpr
e
s
sYa
ng
,
”Ph.
D.d
i
s
s
e
r
t
a
t
i
on(
Ya
l
eUni
ve
r
s
i
t
y
,
1994), 59. She cites Mengliang lu, Suishi guangji, and Wulin jiushi.
21
Xihu laoren fansheng lu, 105.
9
22
Nan Qi shu (南齊書), j 32, p. 584; see also Nanshi 南史, j. 30, p. 787.
Zhuangzi, Outer Chapters, Shanmu, section 8. James Legge translation available online
at: http://ctext.org/zhuangzi/tree-on-themountain?searchu=%E8%9F%AC&searchmode=showall#result
24
Liu Xiang, Shuoyuan, j 9, sec. 6. For online source, see: http://ctext.org/shuoyuan/zheng-jian#n21770
25
Zuozhuan, Zhaogong 26th year.
26
Erya, on animals. For online source, see: http://ctext.org/er-ya/shi-chu/zh
23