SOLD Vintage Laquered Chinese Screen, Coromandel Room Divide for Oriental Interior Design

 

To shape and divide internal rooms, screens have long been used across Asia to provide privacy and seclusion. They organise and order; reveal and conceal; shelter and fold as you need to reshape your space for living and working, offering changing views and exploring new ways of using your home.

This four-panel screen - over 6 foot high and 5 feet wide - provides this versatility. It concertinas beautifully; can be fastened against a wall for impactful decoration, or simply fold when not in use.

From one side, a viewer sees the black lacquering and incised colour typical of the Coromandel style - a technique ancient in China and known to European markets from the 1700s. Wood is heavily coloured, lacquered and carved by hand to create dramatic yet detailed shapes seen here.

Light - spilling across sleek and glossy lacquer - gives the impression of fluid movement: perfectly suited in this example to the elegant cranes arching and flying across the scene.

In Europe in late 19th and early 20th centuries, the fashion for Asian pieces revived. This screen, with its curving plants and flowing lines, is resonant of 1920s Art Nouveau, and we believe this example, made in China for European export, possibly dates from this early 20th century period.

Colouring is controlled and carefully chosen. Cherry reds, gloss black, moss greens, burnt orange, yellow ochres and turquoise create a lustrous jewelled palette to choose from when exploring your interior colour schemes.

Beautifully suited to interiors Bohemian, Traveller, Eclectic, Victorian, this panel is resonant too of traditional Asian philosophies, such as Feng Shui - the placement of items which channel energies into the balance we seek for harmony between stimulation and rest. On one side of the screen, the carving is of energetic flight. On the other, the restraint of delicate panels show lightly-carved flowers resembling chrysanthemum, cherry blossom and orchid.

This lovely example is a beautiful mix for the home - it provides drama of large-scale carving with intricate detail; a palette of rich colours; the ordered balance of animation and repose, plus the simple but essential versatility we seek when shaping the space around us.

The screen is stable, with sturdy brass feet and smooth hinges. As the item is vintage, it has acquired the knocks and bumps of handling - the cares and carelessness of time. None are structural, nor detract from the beauty of the piece.