Coromandel folding screen

Coromandel folding screen; China, first half of the 20th century.
Lacquered wood, hard stones, bone and mother-of-pearl.
Measurements: 183 x 40,5 cm (leaf); 183 x 245 cm (total).
Chinese Coromandel six-leaf screen, in black lacquered wood with figurative decoration depicting Chinese courtesans wandering through gardens with flowers, landscapes, bridges and pagodas. The dresses and other ornaments are enhanced with carved hard stones, ivory and mother-of-pearl. At the bottom, circular decorative panels with floral decorations and vases. On the reverse side, flowers, birds and fruits painted in bright colors.
Coromandel screens are a folding screen made of several wooden panels covered with black lacquer and often with representations of Chinese daily life or landscape motifs, often using gold as the main color for painting, as well as the adhesion of semiprecious stones such as jade. It is estimated that the first Coromandel screens began to be made in Northern China during the Qing Dynasty. Despite being part of Chinese culture, the name comes from the Coromandel coast in India, where screens and other Chinese art pieces were shipped on cargo ships to Europe, with the first screens arriving at the end of the 17th century.