A rare twelve-panel throne-back screen inset with famille-rose porcelain panels, Qing dynasty, Jiaqing / Daoguang period

Collection of the University of La Verne, California.

Sotheby’s New York, 30th March 2006, lot 190.

A shelter from the wind, a statement of power, an artistic expression – monumental screens like the present played an essential role in the imperial palaces and scholars’ studios of the High Qing period. Typically used as the backdrop to thrones, curving gracefully at each end to frame the Emperor in his splendor, throne-back screens were typically lavishly decorated with complex inlaid and lacquer designs, framed in the most desirable hardwoods of huanghuali and zitan. Related examples from throughout the Qing dynasty remain preserved in situ across the Forbidden City and include a twelve-panel eighteenth century example inlaid with kingfisher feathers (accession no. gu 00210732) and a nine-panel example from the Qianlong period (1736-1795) embellished with jade and hardstones (accession no. gu 00210694), illustrated in The Complete Collection of Treasures of the Palace Museum. Furniture of the Ming and Qing Dynasties (II), Hong Kong, 2002, pls 188 and 190 respectively.

However, while screens in lacquer, textile and inlay are frequently attested, the present screen is extraordinarily rare in its use of porcelain. Assembled from sixty four individual plaques of imposing size and weight, each formed, glazed and enameled with exceptional skill, the present screen is a rare and unparalleled testament to the technical mastery of the imperial potters. 

Owing to this technical challenge and the fragility of the material, only two other complete porcelain screens of this type appear to have ever been published, each depicting auspicious figural scenes of Daoist immortals alongside plaques of confronting chilong dragons, flowers and birds, sold at Bonhams London: the first later remounted as a folding screen, 11th May 2017, lot 214; and the second bearing a remarkable resemblance to the present in form and decoration, 15th May 2014, lot 88. Also compare a twelve-leaf example from the collection of T.Y. Chao (1912-1999) depicting scenes from the Xixiang Ji (Romance of the West Chamber), offered in our Hong Kong rooms, 3rd October 2017, lot 3627.

The screen depicts vivid scenes of Daoist immortals in the reverie of the mountains. Centred on a scene of the Queen Mother of the West (Xiwangmu) arriving to acclaim, the screen could also be read as a description of the mythical Peach Festival, on which Xiwangmu is said to arrive on her birthday every 3000 years and bestow peaches of immortality to the revelers. These auspicious scenes include:

• Dongfang Shuo with his peach branch stolen from Xiwangmu
• Magu paying her respects to Xiwangmu on her birthday (Magu xian shou)
• Xiaoshi and Nongyu summoning a phoenix with their flute
• Xiwangmu arriving, greeted by the seven daughters of the Jade Emperor
• The ‘Three Stars’: Fu (fortune), Lu (rank) and Shou (longevity)
• The Eight Immortals crossing the Sea of Happiness 
• Liu Hai playing with his three-legged toad.

The present screen is emblematic of the finest porcelain decoration of its period. Inheriting the rococo style and scholarly taste of the abdicating Qianlong Emperor (r. 1736-1795), porcelain wares of the late eighteenth and early nineteenth century are notable for their fine workmanship and vibrant enamels. Compare closely related figural scenes, lotus scrolls and shou (‘longevity’) characters on the finest vases of the period, including a ruby-ground lantern vase of Jiaqing mark and period, sold in our Paris rooms, 10th December 2019, lot 52; and a pair of lime-green-ground vases of Daoguang mark and period depicting Daoist immortals, sold in these rooms, 21st September 2022, lot 365. 

Indeed, each plaque of this elaborate composition is an artwork in its own right and, as such, extant plaques of the period are frequently found framed as individual works or reworked into new pieces of furniture. Compare, for example, closely related eighteenth century plaques built into the famous rosewood cabinet from the Lionel Jacob Collection, discussed in Michel Beurdeley, Chinese Furniture, New York, 1979, pls 227 and 228.