19th Century Chinese Red Lacquer Screen, 6 Panel Set

At the top of the panels appear images of the Feng-Huang, a phoenix-like bird which is one of the most important creatures in Chinese mythology. This bird image has appeared in Chinese art for over 8000 years, and is a symbol of power, prosperity, and virtue. The Feng-Huang images are surrounded by ornate vegetal raised scrolling in gold.

The golden scrolling design incorporating both animal and vegetal motifs borders the panels. On each panel are detailed palatial scenes of landscape with architecture, as well as images of furniture, flowers and other items of décor. The human characters are shown in various attitudes and groupings, and all have raised faces of bone.

Many symbolic elements are shown, including the small figure of a standing rabbit in the upper third of the second panel. This is “The Moon Rabbit,” (Some Asian and Meso-American cultures see an image resembling a rabbit on the face of the moon, while in other countries a crab, toad, man’s face or woman’s profile might is seen). In Chinese mythology, the rabbit is said to live on the moon, where he uses a mortar to crush ingredients to create the elixir of life for the moon goddess Chang’e.

Areas of some panels show interventions from the past. Recently, some museum-quality restoration and stabilization was done, with excellent results.