Folding screen (pingfeng)
Biombo (pingfeng)
- Date
- c. century IV a.C. · confidence low
- Place
- Luoyang, Henan, China
- Credited to
- Craftsmen of Warring States and Han China
- Field
- Tools
What it is
A wooden panel covered in silk, paper or lacquer that stands on the floor to divide a space, shelter from draughts or give privacy. Hinged leaves, which make it foldable, became common under the Han.
Texts place the first screens in the Eastern Zhou period; the hinged folding panel is later and its exact chronology is unclear.
What it led to
- flexible division of domestic and palace space
- a support for painting and calligraphy in China, Korea and Japan
- Japanese byōbu and their arrival in Europe in the 17th century