17TH-18TH CENTURY

Large wall screens, such as the present example, served both decorative and functional roles within an interior space. Used to deflect wind, to create privacy, to enhance a space or to divide a room, screens were a form of portable architecture and moved within a room as needed. The large expansive surface was ideal for the display paintings or calligraphy and when combined with richly carved, pierced panels and its massive size created a sumptuous visual effect.

Compare the tall screen with removable panel illustrated by N. Berliner et al., Beyond the Screen: Chinese Furniture from the 16th and 17th Centuries, Boston, 1996, no. 1; and another illustrated by Wang Shixiang, Connoisseurship of Chinese Furniture: Ming and Early Qing Dynasties, vol. I, Hong Kong, 1990, p. 90, no. E2, and vol. II, pp. 15 and 165. For one of the largest and finest examples of a floor screen with removable upper panel, see the magnificent dali marble-inset huanghuali and tielimu screen, sold at Christie's New York, Important Chinese Furniture, Formerly the Museum of Classical Chinese Furniture Collection, 19 September 1996, lot 66, and now in the Minneapolis Institue of Arts, illustrated by R. D. Jacobsen and N. Grindley, Classical Chinese Furniture in the Minneapolis Institute of Arts, Minneapolis, 1999, pp. 152-3, no. 53.