Folding screen
Folding screen | |||||||
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Traditional Chinese | |||||||
Simplified Chinese | |||||||
Literal meaning | "Wind Blocker", "Wind Stopper", or "Wind Wall" | ||||||
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A folding screen, also known as pingfeng (Chinese:
History
[edit]Origin
[edit]Screens date back to China during the Eastern Zhou period (771–256 BCE).[1][2] These were initially one-panel screens in contrast to folding screens.[3] Folding screens were invented during the Han dynasty (206 BCE – 220 CE).[4] Depictions of those folding screens have been found in Han-era tombs, such as one in Zhucheng, Shandong Province.[1]
A folding screen was often decorated with beautiful art; major themes included mythology, scenes of palace life, and nature. It is often associated with intrigue and romance in Chinese literature, for example, a young lady in love could take a curious peek hidden from behind a folding screen.[1][2] An example of such a thematic occurrence of the folding screen is in the classical novel Dream of the Red Chamber by Cao Xueqin.[5] The folding screen was a recurring element in Tang literature.[6] The Tang poet Li He (790–816) wrote the "Song of the Screen" (屛風
Folding screens were originally made from wooden panels and painted on lacquered surfaces, eventually folding screens made from paper or silk became popular too.[3] Even though folding screens were known to have been used since antiquity, it became rapidly popular during the Tang dynasty (618–907).[7] During the Tang dynasty, folding screens were considered ideal ornaments for many painters to display their paintings and calligraphy on.[2][3] Many artists painted on paper or silk and applied it onto the folding screen.[2] There were two distinct artistic folding screens mentioned in historical literature of the era. One of it was known as the huaping (Chinese:
Spread throughout East Asia
[edit]Korea
[edit]The byeongpung (Korean: 병풍; "Folding screen") became significant during the period of Unified Silla (668–935).[10] The most common uses for byeongpung were as decoration, as room dividers, or to block wind caused by draft from the Ondol heated floors which were common across Korea.[11] Commonly depicted on Korean folding screens were paintings of landscapes as well as flowers and artistic renditions of calligraphy. Prominent byeongpung screens known as irworobongdo were important elements in the throne room of some Joseon kings, placed immediately behind the throne. Several examples of irworobongdo can be seen across palaces in Korea such as at Gyeongbok Palace, Changdeok Palace and Changgyeonggung.
Another type of screen is the chaekgeori, with scholarly motifs such as books in a shelf.
Common types of byeongpung produced during the Joseon dynasty included:
- Chimbyeong (침병): A folding screen placed by the bedside.
- Baeknapbyeong (백납병): A folding screen decorated with drawings or writings on various subjects.
- Jangsaengdobyeong (장생도병): A folding screen depicting the "Shipjangsaengdo" (10 symbols of longevity)[12]
- Sinseondobyeong (신선도병): A folding screen depicting the gods under the influence of Taoist thought.
- Sobyeong (소병): A folding screen used for mourning or ancestral rites, with only white paper on without any drawings.
Japan
[edit]A Japanese folding screen (or byōbu) originated from the Han dynasty of China and is thought to have been imported to Japan in the 7th or 8th century. The oldest byōbu produced in Japan is Torige ritsujo no byōbu (
The characteristic of folding screens in the Muromachi period was the spatial expression of silence, but in the Azuchi-Momoyama period, when daimyo (feudal lords) competed for supremacy, folding screens with paintings of tigers and dragons became popular.[14] In the Edo period, as the economy developed, emerging merchants became patrons in the production of folding screens. In this period, the Rinpa school folding screens were popular, which were characterized by highly decorative designs using gold or silver foil, bold compositions depicting simple objects, and repeated patterns.[15]
Vietnam
[edit]Folding screens are known as bình phong (
Spread to Europe
[edit]Folding screens were introduced in the late Middle Ages to Europe.[1] As example in 1584, a Japanese embassy on behalf of Oda Nobunaga gifted the so-called Azuchi Screens to Pope Gregory XIII, who displayed them in the Vatican.[18] In the 17th and 18th centuries, many folding screens were imported from China to Europe.[1][2][19] Europeans[1] and especially the French[2] had admiration and desire for the Chinese folding screens, and began importing large lacquered folding screens adorned with art.[1][2] The French fashion designer Coco Chanel was an avid collector of Chinese folding screens and is believed to have owned 32 folding screens, of which eight were housed in her apartment at 31 rue Cambon, Paris.[20] She once said:
I've loved Chinese screens since I was eighteen years old. I nearly fainted with joy when, entering a Chinese shop, I saw a Coromandel for the first time. Screens were the first thing I bought.[21]
Uses
[edit]Although folding screens originated in China, they can now be found in many interior designs throughout the world.[9] Some of the first uses of folding screens were rather practical. They were used to prevent draft in homes,[9] as indicated by the two characters in their Chinese name: ping (屛 "screen; blocking") and feng (
See also
[edit]- Chinoiserie
- Coromandel screen
- Hanging scroll
- Rood screen and triptych: panels in churches
- Room divider
- Shower
References
[edit]- ^ a b c d e f g h Handler, Sarah (2007). Austere luminosity of Chinese classical furniture. University of California Press. pp. 268–271, 275, 277. ISBN 978-0-520-21484-2.
- ^ a b c d e f g h Mazurkewich, Karen; Ong, A. Chester (2006). Chinese Furniture: A Guide to Collecting Antiques. Tuttle Publishing. pp. 144–146. ISBN 978-0-8048-3573-2.
- ^ a b c d Needham, Joseph; Tsien, Tsuen-hsuin (1985). Paper and printing, Volume 5. Cambridge University Press. p. 120. ISBN 978-0-521-08690-5.
- ^ Lee, O-Young; Yi, Ŏ-ryŏng; Holstein, John (1999). Things Korean. Tuttle Publishing. p. 135. ISBN 978-0-8048-2129-2.
- ^ Tian, Jiaqing (1996). Classic Chinese furniture of the Qing dynasty. Philip Wilson. p. 54.
- ^ a b c Handler, Sarah (2001). Austere luminosity of Chinese classical furniture. Berkeley: University of California Press. p. 275. ISBN 9780520214842.
- ^ a b van Gulik, Robert Hans (1981). Chinese pictorial art as viewed by the connoisseur: notes on the means and methods of traditional Chinese connoisseurship of pictorial art, based upon a study of the art of mounting scrolls in China and Japan. Hacker Art Books. p. 159. ISBN 978-0-87817-264-1.
- ^ Clunas, Craig (1997). Pictures and visuality in early modern China. London: Reaktion Books. p. 61. ISBN 978-1-86189-008-5.
- ^ a b c d e f g Cooper, Dan (1999). "Folding Grandeur". Old House Interiors. 5 (1): 30–36. ISSN 1079-3941.
- ^ Kim, Kumja Paik (2006). The art of Korea: Highlights from the collection of San Francisco's Asian Art Museum. San Francisco: Asian Art Museum. p. 32. ISBN 978-0-939117-31-4.
- ^ Choi, Leessoung (2017). "A Study on the General Characteristics of Folding Screens" (PDF). Journal of the Korea Furniture Society. 28 (2).
- ^ ""Shipjangsaengdo" Painted Folding Screen (The 10 Symbols of Longevity)". Google Arts & Culture. Retrieved 2022-08-19.
- ^
鳥 毛 立 女 屏風 第 1扇 Imperial Househpld Agency - ^ Azuchi-Momoyama Period 1573-1603 JapanVisitor.com
- ^ 琳派とは?
知 っておきたい琳派の巨匠 と代表 作 January 15, 2019 - ^ Nguyễn, Nhật Minh (22 May 2022). "Độc đáo kiến trúc bình phong". Báo Cà Mau (in Vietnamese).
- ^ Nguyễn, Anh Kiệt (23 January 2020). "Bức bình phong trong đời sống tinh thần người Việt". Báo Công an nhân dân (in Vietnamese).
- ^ McKelway, Matthew (2006). "The Azuchi Screens and Images of Castles". Capitalscapes Folding Screens and Political Imagination in Late Medieval Kyoto. University of Hawaii Press. p. 296. ISBN 978-0824861773.
- ^ "What is a coromandel screen?". Quezi. Uclue. Archived from the original on 27 July 2011. Retrieved 9 August 2011.
- ^ "Coco Chanel's apartment: the Coromandel screens". Chanel News. June 29, 2010.
- ^ Delay, Claude (1983). Chanel Solitaire. Gallimard. p. 12. Cited in: "COCO CHANEL'S APARTMENT THE COROMANDEL SCREENS". Chanel News. June 29, 2010.
- ^ a b Koll, Randall; Ellis, Casey (2004). The organized home : design solutions for clutter-free living. Gloucester, Mass.: Rockport. p. 41. ISBN 978-1-59253-018-2.