17TH-18TH CENTURY

Constructed from narrow joined panels, folding screens were portable and could be placed to suit both aesthetic and functional purposes, such as creating an imposing backdrop behind a chair or blocking out a draft from a nearby doorway. The Ming carpenter’s manual Lu Bang jing records that this type of screen was always made from either eight or six panels. Twelve-panel examples did not appear to be in vogue until the Qing dynasty during the Kangxi period (1662-1722). The present screen has ten main panels flanked by two side panels. Each panel comprises an openwork section on top enclosing one of three characters: fu, lu, and shou (good fortune, prosperity and longevity); followed by a long rectangular opening that would have held paintings or calligraphy; and three further sections of openwork carving: a squat rectangular section depicting a qilin, a square one enclosing a shou character flanked by confronting chilong, and an apron with a ruyi head, all set against a ground of sinuous chilong. The opening on each side panel is bordered by a tripartite vertical section enclosing vases holding blossoming branches.

See a similar twelve-panel huanghuali screen with comparable openwork carving, but with apertures in the top section alternating between a circle, a leaf, and a fan, illustrated by Wang Shixiang and C. Evarts, Masterpieces from the Museum of Classical Chinese Furniture, Chicago and San Francisco, 1995, pp. 156-7, no. 73, and subsequently sold at Christie’s New York, 19 September 1996, lot 107.