Since ancient times, folding screens, a type of furniture that originated in Asia, were produced in Korea, China and Japan. "Decorative folding screens" were brought to New Spain since, at least, 1598. For more than 250 years, the Nao de China (The China Ship), or the Manila Galleon, was in charge of bringing a multitude of these samples to the viceroyalty. The bio-bu, Japanese word meaning "protection from the wind", were considered furniture of extreme luxury. There are also records of Japanese folding screens that date back to the seventeenth century (before 1638). Those exported to the West were highly coveted pieces and were artistic products for a non-Asian market.
In New Spain, this type of furniture was adapted, creating as a result, a local production with Western painting; the textile of the s was generally European linen, although some were of lacquer. On the folding screen s there were mythological scenes, gallant scenes, scenes of strolls, of city views, of hunting scenes, of viceroy entrances, of moral advice, among others. That is to say, the themes related to "the Earth" flooded the surfaces of the folding screens, which sometimes had two sides or faces. They highlight themes such as: views of a stroll to Iztacalco, views of the Alameda, representations of the viceroy´s palace and the Plaza Mayor (Main Square) of Mexico, the four elements, liberal arts, Diana and the Calydonian Boar, muses of Parnassus, among others.
While they were used to divide the interior space of homes, folding screen also served to show the owner´s high culture, through scholarly messages that were didactic in nature. There were two types of folding screens, those for the bedroom and those for the parlor (rodaestrados). The former were taller, compared to those for the parlor, which were shorter, and served to surround the parlor during gatherings that women of the colonial period held in their homes. The folding screen here, which was surely made in Canton in the nineteenth century, displays a palace scene, similar to an enclosed garden, a reoccurring theme in this type of furniture. A multitude of figures delight in the idyllic court areas. It is comprised of twelve lacquered wooden s. On the lower part there are quadrants with animals, while on the upper part, there are representations of flowers (cherry blossoms, chrysanthemums and peonies). This piece of furniture still has the original metal hinges that link the s.
Since ancient times, folding screens, a type of furniture that originated in Asia, were produced in Korea, China and Japan. "Decorative folding screens" were brought to New Spain since, at least, 1598. For more than 250 years, the Nao de China (The China Ship), or the Manila Galleon, was in charge of bringing a multitude of these samples to the viceroyalty. The bio-bu, Japanese word meaning "protection from the wind", were considered furniture of extreme luxury. There are also records of Japanese folding screens that date back to the seventeenth century (before 1638). Those exported to the West were highly coveted pieces and were artistic products for a non-Asian market.
