Orientalist folding screen. Europe, circa 1900

Orientalist style folding screen. Europe, circa 1900
Painted and polychrome paper on a folding wooden structure.
Measurements: 176 x 192 cm.
It presents damages and small tears in the paper, typical of its age and use. In spite of this, it maintains a remarkable decorative and chromatic integrity, preserving its strong visual and decorative power (see images).

This elegant four-leaf screen, made around 1900 in Europe, is a refined example of the orientalist taste that permeated the Western decorative arts at the turn of the century, influenced by Japanism and the growing interest in the art of the Far East.
The screen is decorated with richly polychrome wallpaper, where an exuberant scene of exotic birds, oriental flowers, butterflies and trees in bloom is displayed, all executed with a meticulousness typical of Asian aesthetics. The composition is structured in two registers: the upper one shows an idyllic garden of Chinese or Japanese inspiration, with symbolic elements such as pheasants, chrysanthemums, peonies and cherry blossom branches; while the lower band presents decorative floral baskets, as ornamental friezes.

During the 19th and early 20th centuries, Orientalism became a fashionable trend in Europe, especially in France and England, partly due to the opening of trade with Asia and the influence of Japanese art after the Paris Exposition Universelle of 1867. Items such as screens, fans, lacquerware and porcelain became synonymous with sophistication and exoticism, being acquired by the upper classes as symbols of status and aesthetic sensibility.
This type of folding screens not only fulfilled a practical function as room dividers, but also acted as ornamental objects of the first order in living rooms, boudoirs or libraries of eclectic inspiration.