Ten-Panel Folding Screen Ten-Panel Folding Screen

Set within a hardwood frame, each of this ten-panel folding screen is divided vertically into three sections. Exquisitely carved flowers and symmetrically arranged kui dragons form ornamental space fillers on the top and bottom sections resepctively. Intended to be seen from both sides, the central panels of the screen are inlaid with various gemstones of auspicious birds and flowers in the front and painted landscapes in the back, a techinique argueably invented by the 16th-century lacquercraft master Zhou Zhu. Multiple layered lacaquer, tinted with cinnabar, were used to entail carving through the surface. Given to emperor Qianlong (1735 - 1796 CE) as a wedding gift.

In the second panel, there is a pheasant resting upon a lotus branch. A pheasant symbolizes good fortune and is one of the twelve imperial insignas during the Qing dynasty often related to the Empress.