Studio: international art (82.1921)

SOME WORKS OF ART FROM THE FAR EAST

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TWO WINGS OF AN EIGHT-FOLD SCREEN
OF BLACK LACQUER WITH JADE AND
SEMI-PRECIOUS STONES IN RELIEF
CHENG TE PERIOD, 1506-22

story which the centre panels tell. These
are not unlike the pietra dura picture in
the Victoria and Albert Museum, the sub-
ject of which is said to represent the Taoist
Paradise. Probably it holds some such
meaning but, as Mr. R. L. Hobson says in
his book on Chinese Pottery, symbolic
meanings " are often so difficult to identify
that we have to be content with general
headings. ... It is infinitely preferable to
give the designs no label at all unless the
identification is fully established : this at
least leaves the question open." These
lower panels to the Western eye represent
but vases and box-like receptacles within
which are planted the prunus, peach-blos-
som, double cherry, lotus, chrysanthemum,
poppy, gardenia and so on, which have

been carved in different precious stones and
have jade leaves ; but to the Eastern eye
they denote the twelve months of the year.

Upon one of these lower panels there is a
jade disc engraved with the name of the
then reigning Emperor, Cheng Te. This
fixes the date of the screen as having been
made between the years 1506 and 1522—
that is, about the middle of the Ming period.
Each panel is in three divisions encased in
rose-wood mounts. The taste of the artist
who designed and executed this screen, like
the perfections of the stones which he used
for its decoration, is beyond appraisement.
So subtly imbued is it with a sort of fanciful
lore that it may well be held to have been
brought from some magic palace. 0 0

The eight-fold screen of black lacquer

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