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| 133 A fine twelve-panel Coromandel lacquer screen (weiping ) the front is decorated on a gold ground with a scene of numerous figures at various leisurely pursuits in an elaborate palace complex with buildings, pavilions, terraces and a lake; the grounds are scattered with various trees, flowers and fantastic rocks. The scene is surrounded by a frieze containing the Hundred Antiques (bo gu) and various flowers in jardinieres between narrow bands of running dragons and flowers; all on an attractive reddish-brown ground. The reverse is similarly decorated with a lake in the foreground, on which sail many boats, with small islands and pavilions linked by bridges, dykes and paths, with buildings, including pagodas, along the shore, and mountains in the background. The lake scene is framed by small panels of mythical animals, flowers and landscapes, between narrow borders of flowers and shou characters. The lake is a stylised representation of the West Lake (Xihu) at Hangzhou in Zhejiang province. |
| For related Coromandel lacquer screens, see Jacobsen, Classical Chinese Furniture in the Minneapolis Institute of Arts, no. 55, pp. 159–61, depicting a Palace scene on one side and landscapes, the Hundred Antiques and poems on the other; and Kerr, Chinese Art and Design: The T. T. Tsui Gallery of Chinese Art, no. 47, depicting the birthday party of Xiwangmu. A Coromandel screen in the collection of the Asian Art Museum, San Francisco, depicts eight different scenes from the West Lake. |
