Provenance

• 1889: possibly owned by Alphonse Wyatt Thibaudeau (1840-1892) , and sold at his sale, Sotheby's, London, 9 December 1889 (lot 1139) as 'Sketch for a Fan, in Japanese style, in colours', bought by Lauser, £3.10.0.
• By 1904: acquired by Charles Hazlewood Shannon (1863-1937) , London, who owned it until at least 1912.
• 1928: sold by the Executors of the H. L. Sternberg estate, Christie's, London, 24 February 1928 (lot 51), and bought by David Croal Thomson (1855-1930) , London art dealer, 220 gns.
• 1950: acquired by Sir James L. Dodds (1891-1972), then British Minister in Lima, Peru;
• 1966: sold by his wife, Lady Dodds, at auction, Sotheby's, London, 20 April 1966 (lot 11), and bought by Anthony D'Offay Fine Art, London;
• 1966: bought from d'Offay by David Owsley, who owned it until at least 1984.
• 1987: sold by the R. H. Love Galleries, Chicago, to the Pfeil Collection, Chicago, IL.
• 1995: art market, London/New York;
• By 1996: with The Jordan-Volpe Gallery, Inc., New York;
• 1996: bought by a collector;
• 2018: sold at auction, Christie's, New York, 22 May 2018 (lot 71), and bought on behalf of Paula Crane Lunder (b. 1935) and Peter H. Lunder (b. 1933) ;
• 2018: given to the Lunder Collection, Colby College Museum of Art.

Exhibitions

• 1904: Fourth Exhibition, International Society of Sculptors, Painters, and Gravers, New Gallery, Knightsbridge, London, 1904 (2nd edition, cat. no. 154a) as 'Study for a Fan'.
• 1905: Memorial Exhibition of the Works of the late James McNeill Whistler, First President of The International Society of Sculptors, Painters and Gravers, New Gallery, Regent Street, London, 1905 (cat. no. 116).