EDO PERIOD (EARLY 19TH CENTURY), SIGNED KOMA KYUHAKU SAKU

A folding fan entwined with flowering vines is a refernce to Yugao, chapter four of The Tale of Genji. In this chapter, Genji, on his way to visit his lover the Lady Rokujo, notices flowers called "evening faces" (yugao, a kind of gourd with white, round blooms that last a single summer evening) growing on a trellis. When his man goes to pick one for him, a young girl appears and offers a fan on which to place the flowers.