3-009-033 - The Print Collector/Heritage Images

The International Exhibition: screen in the Chinese Court, 1862. '...a screen...formed of three kinds of wood, which in colour are black, yellow, and red, and is completely covered with carved work of a most elaborate character. Devices of various kinds, as sceptres and scrolls, thickly bestud the panels of the screen, which have wrought upon them a small diaper pattern in low relief; and at the lower portion of the ends of the screen, and along its uppermost boundary, occur complex masses of carving, which set forth the clouds filled with dragons. The clouds are of black wood, and occur in the usual conventional form in which they are depicted by the Chinese; and the dragons, parts of which appear even here and there between the clouds, are in light wood. These fierce creatures are represented as holding balls between their talons, from which attenuated members proceed. We are informed that this is the manner in which the Chinese represent lightning...A great amount of spirit and of character is introduced into the upper portion of the work, which English omamentists would do well to study, and a number of ornamental features of a very interesting character. In execution the work is also very successful'. From "Illustrated London News", 1862.