Taiwan Stamps : 1974 , Scott 1895-8 Chinese Painting Moon-Shaped Fans - MNH, F-VF - (9T0FJ) - (9T0FJ)

Taiwan Stamps : 1974 , Scott 1895-8 Chinese Painting Moon-Shaped Fans - MNH, F-VF : Four fan pictures, painted by the artists of the Sung dynasty (960-1279 A.D.), were selected from the National Palace Museum collections as central designs of this set of stamps. This series consists of four denominations?1.00, 2.50, 5.00 and 8.00, depicting Wei Sheng's Crape Myrtle, Hsu Ti's White Cabbage and Insects, Li Ti's Hibiscus and Rock, and Wu Ping's Pomegranates, respectively. The fan originated during three ancient dynasties, Hsai, Shang and Chou, and was widely used in the Sung dynasty. The fan used at that time was the silk fan which later became the moonshaped fan. While Emperor Huei Tzung of the Sung dynasty was on the throne, he himself painted pictures on fans, so silk fans became very popular, were plentiful and beautifully done. The four fan pictures adopted for this issue are silk fans, all vitally alive, elegant, and lovely. The silk fan, round in shape, is the symbol of reunion (Chinese word "round" also means reunion), and has long been used by writers and painters as the subject matter of their chosen master work.