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Folding screen

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Folding screen
Folding screen on display at Musée Guimet, Paris

A folding screen is a type of free-standing furniture. It consists of several frames or panels, which are often connected by hinges or by other means. It can be made in a variety of designs and with different kinds of materials. Folding screens have many practical and decorative uses. It originated from ancient China, eventually spreading to East Asia, Europe, and other regions of the world.

History

A Chinese Coromandel screen is seen in the oil painting Chopin (1873) by Albert von Keller. Typically for this kind of folding screen, the front has a detailed scene, while the back usually has a simple floral theme.

Origin in China

Screens date back to China during the Eastern Zhou Dynasty period (771-256 BCE).[1][2] These were initially one-panel screens in contrast to folding screens.[3] Folding screens were invented during the Han Dynasty (206 BCE – 220 CE).[4] Depictions of those folding screens have been found in Han Dynasty era tombs, such as one in Zhucheng, Shandong Province.[1] A folding screen was often decorated with beautiful art, major themes included mythology, scenes of palace life, and nature. It is often associated with intrigue and romance in the literature of China as, for example, a young lady in love could take a curious peek hidden from behind a folding screen.[1][2] An example of such an occurrence of the folding screen would be in the classical novel Dream of the Red Chamber by Cao Xueqin.[5]

Folding screens were originally made from wooden panels and painted on lacquered surfaces, eventually folding screens made from paper or silk became popular too.[3] Even though folding screens were known to have been used since antiquity, it became rapidly popular during the Tang Dynasty (618–907).[6] During the Tang Dynasty, folding screens were considered ideal ornaments for many painters to display their paintings and calligraphy on.[2][3] Many artists painted on paper or silk and applied it onto the folding screen.[2] There were two distinct artistic folding screens mentioned in historical literature of the era. One of it was known as the huaping (Chinese: 畫屏; lit. 'painted folding screen') and the other was known as the shuping (Chinese: 書屏; lit. 'calligraphy folding screen').[3][6] It was not uncommon for people to commission folding screens from artists, such as from Tang-era painter Cao Ba or Song-era painter Guo Xi.[2] The landscape paintings on folding screens reached its height during the Song Dynasty (960–1279).[1] The lacquer techniques for the Coromandel screens, which is known as kuancai (literally "incised colors"), emerged during the late Ming Dynasty (1368-1644)[7] and was applied to folding screens to create dark screens incised, painted, and inlaid with art of mother-of-pearl, ivory, or other materials.[8] Up to around 30 layers of lacquer could be used, each layer could have art incised, painted, and inlaid, which would made the folding screens stand out against its dark backdrop.

Spread throughout East Asia

Korea

Folding screens became significant during the period of Unified Silla (668–935).[9]

Japan

Main article: Byōbu

Like many Japanese arts and crafts, folding screens originated in China. According to the 8th century work Nihon Shoki, one of the earliest folding screens to reach Japan was during the reign of Emperor Temmu (r. 672-686), which were received as gifts from the Korean kingdom of Silla.[10] By the 8th century, folding screens became well-known in Japan through China during the Tang Dynasty (618–907), which led Japanese craftsmen to start making their own, highly influenced by Chinese patterns.[11]

Spread to Europe

Folding screens were introduced in the Late Middle Ages to Europe.[1] In the 17th and 18th century, many folding screens were being imported from China to Europe.[1][2][12] Especially the French had a certain admiration and desire for the Chinese folding screens[2] along with the rest of Europe[1] and they began importing large lacquered folding screens adorned with art.[1][2] Coco Chanel was an avid collector of Chinese folding screens and is believed to have owned 32 folding screens of which eight of them were housed in her apartment at 31 rue Cambon, Paris.[13][14] She once said:

I've loved Chinese screens since I was eighteen years old. I nearly fainted with joy when, entering a Chinese shop, I saw a Coromandel for the first time. Screens were the first thing I bought.[14]

Uses

Although the folding screen was originally from China, it can now be found in many interior designs throughout the world.[8] Some of the first uses of the folding screen were rather practical. It was used to prevent draft in people's homes[8] as is indicated in the hanzi (Chinese characters) of its Chinese name (屏, literally "screen"; 風, literally "wind"). It long bestowed a sense of privacy. In classical times, folding screens were often placed in rooms to be used as dressing screens for ladies.[8] Folding screens can be set up to partition a large room and change the interior features of the space.[8] Sometimes the entrance from one room to another needs a false wall for the aesthetics and to create a desirable atmosphere by hiding certain features of a place, like doors to a kitchen, as for example when hosting guests.[8][15] As many folding screens have fine artistic designs and art on them, they can fit well as decorative items in an interior design of a home.[8][15]

See also

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Folding screens.

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f g h Handler, Sarah (2007). Austere luminosity of Chinese classical furniture. University of California Press. pp. 268–271, 275, 277. ISBN 978-0-520-21484-2.
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h Mazurkewich, Karen; Ong, A. Chester (2006). Chinese Furniture: A Guide to Collecting Antiques. Tuttle Publishing. pp. 144–146. ISBN 978-0-8048-3573-2.
  3. ^ a b c d Needham, Joseph; Tsien, Tsuen-hsuin (1985). Paper and printing, Volume 5. Cambridge University Press. p. 120. ISBN 978-0-521-08690-5. {{cite book}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter: |1= (help)
  4. ^ Lee, O-Young (1999). Things Korean. Tuttle Publishing. p. 135. ISBN 978-0-8048-2129-2. {{cite book}}: Unknown parameter |coauthors= ignored (|author= suggested) (help)
  5. ^ Tian, Jiaqing (1996). Classic Chinese furniture of the Qing Dynasty. Philip Wilson. p. 54.
  6. ^ a b van Gulik, Robert Hans (1981). Chinese pictorial art as viewed by the connoisseur: notes on the means and methods of traditional Chinese connoisseurship of pictorial art, based upon a study of the art of mounting scrolls in China and Japan. Hacker Art Books. p. 159. ISBN 978-0-87817-264-1.
  7. ^ Clunas, Craig (1997). Pictures and visuality in early modern China. London: Reaktion Books. p. 61. ISBN 978-1-86189-008-5.
  8. ^ a b c d e f g Cooper, Dan (1999). "Folding Grandeur". Old House Interiors. 5 (1): 30–36. ISSN 1079-3941.
  9. ^ Kim, Kumja Paik (2006). The art of Korea: Highlights from the collection of San Francisco's Asian Art Museum. San Francisco: Asian Art Museum. p. 32. ISBN 978-0-939117-31-4.
  10. ^ Koizumi, Kazuko (1986). Traditional Japanese furniture. Tokyo: Kodansha International. p. 154. ISBN 978-0-87011-722-0. {{cite book}}: Unknown parameter |coauthors= ignored (|author= suggested) (help)
  11. ^ Impey, Oliver (1997). The art of the Japanese folding screen. New York: Weatherhill. p. 8. ISBN 978-0-8348-0389-3.
  12. ^ "What is a coromandel screen?". Quezi. Uclue. Retrieved 9 August 2011.
  13. ^ "COCO CHANEL'S APARTMENT THE CAMELLIA". Chanel News. Retrieved 7 August 2011.
  14. ^ a b "COCO CHANEL'S APARTMENT THE COROMANDEL SCREENS". Chanel News. Retrieved 7 August 2011.
  15. ^ a b Koll, Randall (2004). The organized home : design solutions for clutter-free living. Gloucester, Mass.: Rockport. p. 41. ISBN 978-1-59253-018-2. {{cite book}}: Unknown parameter |coauthors= ignored (|author= suggested) (help)
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