Chinese Pierced Work Floor Screen on Wood Base

Carved panel wall of tiny scenes: deer, birds and figures packed edge to edge.

This pierced work floor screen on wood base is from Hunan Province, China, and dates to the mid 19th century. It is carved elm wood. As original period furniture became harder to find, restoration artists began salvaging fragments from incomplete pieces to make complete ones, and eventually full reproductions began to surface. Rectangular frame filled with irregular fitted panels in varied sizes, many shaped like fans, each carved in high relief. Animals, trees and small figures appear throughout. Two foot blocks support it. Dark brown with the carving highlighted. It is 70 inches long, 2 deep and 74 high.

A great many stories, kept in tidy little windows.