Fan with Poetic Verses. Dimensions: W. when open: 18 1/2 in. (47 cm)H. 9 1/4 in. (23.5 cm). Date: dated A.H. 1301/A.D. 1883-84.This rare lacquer fan consists of twenty wooden blades painted with floral and vegetal scrolls and poetic inscriptions. The design is European whereas the construction is related to nineteenth-century Cantonese fans exported to Europe in quantity. The verses are rhyming couplets by the renowned Persian mystical poet Hafiz. While luxury objects such as this were often exported and thus tailored to the tastes of Europeans, they were also collected by the Iranian elite. Museum: Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, USA.