Chinese Two-Panel Folding Screen, Bird-and-Flower Composition C.1950

Chinese Two-Panel Folding Screen, Bird-and-Flower Composition C.1950

A large and decoratively accomplished two-panel Chinese folding screen painted in the gongbi fine line tradition, depicting an expansive garden paradise populated by auspicious birds and flowers against a warm amber-ochre ground.

The composition unfolds continuously across both panels: a majestic pair of fenghuang (phoenix) occupy the foreground of the left panel, their burnished bronze plumage and trailing white tail feathers rendered with meticulous scale-by-scale brushwork; they are attended by pheasants perched on scholar's rocks, pairs of swallows in flight, quail on the ground, and a white crane wading at the lower right.

The floral setting is equally abundant, peonies in crimson, amber, white, and blush, magnolias, weeping willow, and bamboo. Every element drawn from the classical vocabulary of Chinese auspicious imagery: phoenix and peony together (fenghuang mudan) signifying beauty and marital felicity, crane and willow denoting longevity, paired birds throughout expressing conjugal harmony.

The panels are bordered top and bottom with a pink brocade-patterned paper band and set within a black lacquered wood frame with shaped corner mounts. The reverse is lined with a pink ground all-over brocade paper.

Dimensions:
H185.5cm
W62cm each panel
D3.5cm

Presented in good condition with some signs of age and wear (please refer to photos)
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