Where was this beautiful fan made?
What is it made of?
What is the significance of the materials?
Answers:
Where was this beautiful fan made?
This gorgeous fan was made in India in the 1980s. The exact location where it was made was unfortunately not recorded. It was donated to the Karshner Center in 1987.
What is it made of? What is the significance of the materials?
If you guessed that the colorful feathers forming the main body of the fan are from a peacock, you're right! Peafowl have been an important part of the wildlife as well as cultures in South Asia for millennia, although in 2013 trade of their feathers was banned in India in order to curtail poaching. The iridescence of their feathers, which is the way they seem to shimmer when viewed from different angles, is due not to a pigment in the feathers but rather to the special way the fibers making up the feathers are arranged. Wow!
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