A CHINESE COROMANDEL BLACK LACQUER TWELVE-PANEL SCREEN

A CHINESE COROMANDEL BLACK LACQUER TWELVE-PANEL SCREEN QING DYNASTY, 18TH CENTURY Each panel decorated with a continuous scene of courtly ladies engaged in leisurely pursuits in gardens and landscapes with bridges and pavilions, within a border with 'One Hundred Antiques', the reverse plain (each panel 183cm high x 40.5cm wide; 486cm wide overall) Provenance: Listed in Crum Ewing 1926 inventory as "Very Rare Old Coromandel Twelve-Fold Screen" and valued at £750. Footnote: Note: Scenes of ladies of the court were popular in the late Ming and early Qing period and are often based on a painting by Qiu Ying (1494-1552) known as 'Spring Morning in the Han Palace'. Changing cultural models of female identity were taking place by the late Ming and early Qing dynasties and the popularity of scenes with predominantly female figures engaging in various activities, including the 'Four Arts of the Scholar', may reflect this shift in cultural attitudes to women in terms of cultural refinement. See W.De Kesel and G.Dhont, Coromandel: Lacquer Screens, 2002, Gent, pp.48-49, with similar twelve-leaf screens dating to the Kangxi period illustrated pp.23, 31, and 36. A comparable twelve-panel screen, but with further decoration to the reverse, sold Bonhams, Roger Keverne Ltd/ Moving On, 11 May 2021, lot 250.