Japanese Four Panel Floating Dragon Floor Screen

One dragon, four panels, and nowhere near enough room for him.

This four panel floating dragon floor screen comes from Japan and dates to the Meiji Period (1868 to 1912). It is silk embroidery in a rosewood frame. Folding screens divided and dressed Japanese rooms for centuries, and in the Meiji years embroidered ones also found eager buyers abroad. The dragon spans the panels in shimmering scales, claws out, from feathered tail to whiskered head, on plain gold-toned silk. Marks and ripples show across the silk, and arched tops finish each panel. Ninety inches long and 66 high.

Room dividers generally have less to say.