You will not find such a rare important Chinese artistically excellent master work of this size and stature anywhere. Made from the rarest of materials, this four panel fine piece of Chinese Art and heritage is truly special. The master artist carved zitan wood has been tested and verified. It includes all zitan fitted mortise and tenon socketed architectural buttresses anchored by stabilizing large heavy solid zitan foo dogs (foo lions) at the base of each side. Zitan is the rarest, most valuable, most dense wood in the world. It takes the longest to grow and is the most difficult to carve and required Imperial Consent to use or work with. The silk panels are all hand embroidered with depictions of divine bird motifs including magpie, crane and pheasant. The joints including the finest most sophisticated through-tenon and feather tenon joints are amazingly precise - the work of a master artisan. The movable stretcher fasteners demonstrate an amazing old clever technology (see close up photo). Unbelievably these and the stretchers are also made of solid zitan. The brass hinges are hand made with hand hewn pins. Dimensions: each of the four panels is 23" wide X 75" high X 2" thick. The foo dogs are each 14" long X 7" high X 4" wide. So the overall screen can normally stand approximately 86" wide. Circa late 18th to early 19th Century.

Asian Antiques
Asian Decorative Arts
Antique Screens