Bidspirit auction | Pr Chinese Lacquered & Inlaid

Pr Chinese Lacquered & Inlaid 2-Panel Screens - Pair of Chinese red-lacquered, two-paneled folding screens decorated with inlaid semi-precious stones, including jade, lapis lazuli, quartz, malachite, and additional stones, 20th century. Provenance: The Distinguished Collection of Leo & Doris Hodroff. Each screen depicts court ladies engaged in leisure pursuits in lush exterior scenes. One screen with a panel picturing a beauty looking outwards from a pagoda while she fishes, while a pair of women float through calm waters upstream; the other panel features a court lady leaning beneath a flowering tree as her attendant approaches with tea. The other screen with a panel depicting two beauties gathered along the shoreline, one watches over her friend, who bathes textiles in the calm water as two mandarin ducks float by; the other panel depicting a female court figure practicing jianwu, or a traditional sword dance, while her attendant waits patiently. (Two-panel sections, each) Height: 72 in x width: 35 1/2 in x depth: 14 in. (Each, approximately) Weight: in excess of 200 lbs. Condition: Each of the two-panel sections are structurally sound and stable. There is separation to the joints throughout both sections. Light crazing to the red-lacquered areas. To one two-panel section, there are chips and small losses to appoximately six regions of the applied wooden foliage. There are additional losses to one of the hardstone discs along the left half and one of the large leaves along the right half. There is a split forming above the leftmost guanyin, measuring approximately 2 1/2 inches. To the second two-panel section, there is a split along the right eave of the pagoda along the left panel; along the right panel of the same section, there is a loss to one of the lower leaves along the vining peonies as well as to one of the horizontal fence rails along the lower quadrant. There are minute chips along the extreme edges of the floral forms. To the verso of both sections, there are several narrow splits forming along the backing panels as well as wear and some losses to the pigment along the painted character inscriptions. The frames appear to be later modifications to the screen panels.