Chinese Four Panel Silk Screen Depicting Lotus Pond and Cranes

Two white birds wade among lotus leaves the size of parasols, and neither seems in any hurry.

This four panel silk screen depicting a lotus pond and cranes comes from China and dates to the 20th century. It is paper and silk on a rosewood frame with brass fittings. Folding screens have long been used across East Asia to divide rooms and catch drafts, and the lotus, rising clean from muddy water, is generally read as a symbol of purity. Broad leaves in olive, bronze and blue curl across the panels beside a single white blossom and seed heads on long stems. A grey rock anchors the lower left. It is 74 inches wide and 36 high.

Even the pond looks well behaved.