Ukiyo-e Geisha Fan 'Oiran'

Folding fan printed with a courtesan in a pink kimono among balloons and flowers

A face from a woodblock print, on pink. This folding fan carries a courtesan drawn in the manner of the old prints, her hair up and her kimono pink, placed at one side of the leaf among round balloons in soft colours, chrysanthemums, a red check pattern and a scatter of small motifs on a pale pink ground. It is a print about prints, with a modern hand.

It is the most playful fan in the collection, and the pink is what makes it: a colour the old prints rarely had.

The name, Oiran, is the high courtesan of the old pleasure quarter, the one the prints were made of, and she is on the fan.

The ribs are split bamboo, thin and even, riveted at the pivot and glued to the leaf along their length, and the two outer guards are heavier so the fan closes square. The leaf is printed, not painted, which is why the image is crisp to the edge of every fold, and the fan opens with a flick of the wrist and closes with a snap.

Carry it closed in a sleeve, a bag or the back of an obi, which is where a folding fan lives in Japan, and open it when the room is warm. With a yukata at a festival it is the accessory; at a desk in August it is the only air conditioning that fits in a pocket. Opened flat on a shelf or a wall it is a picture.

The balloons are the detail: they are round and pale, like the paper balloons of a Japanese summer, and they float across the pleats between the flowers. The courtesan is at the right, so she is the last thing the fan shows as it opens.

Every fan in the collection is photographed open on the same pale ground at the same scale, so the pages compare with each other: the large fan is large, the others are the size of a hand and a half. The photograph shows the printed face; the reverse is plain.

Keep it dry; a wet leaf marks and a wet rib warps. Open it fully before you fold it, so the pleats find their creases, and store it closed. It does not need anything else.

From across a room it is a pink fan with a figure on it. From close the figure shows her hair and her kimono, the balloons their colours, and the check its red. It is the fan for a pink or white yukata and a person who likes the old prints and a joke.