Unknown
Screencirca 1910

Not on view

No image

Artist or Maker: Unknown
Title: Screen
Place Made: India, Himachal Pradesh, Shimla(?)
Date Made: circa 1910
Medium: North Indian rosewood (Shisham/Dalbergia sissoo); brass hinges
Dimensions: 74 3/8 x 93 x 5/8 in. (188.91 x 236.22 x 1.59 cm)
Credit Line: Gift of Mrs. Harry Lenart in memory of her father, Philip A. Ramus
Accession Number: M.86.175a-e
Classification: Furnishings
Collecting Area: South and Southeast Asian Art
Curatorial Notes: This screen is made of four virtually identical hinged sections consisting of rectangular panels of openwork geometric and foliate arabesque designs (pinjra or “bird-cage” work) set in a framework of unadorned uprights with vase finials and cross-rails of varying height. Each section has an upper, middle, and lower register with a large central panel bordered by symmetrical smaller panels. The upper register’s panel is a grid of pierced star bursts on a diagonal axis. The middle register’s panel features a lobed cartouche with an interior pattern of pierced roundels and half-roundels arranged in an alternating configuration. The lower register’s panel is an eight-pointed star enclosing a formation of perforated lozenges. The surrounding interstices are filled with foliage. Each section is surmounted by a crest rail of openwork scrolling foliage bordered along the top by split acanthus leaves.

Pierced screens of this design were principally produced in Shimla and Lahore, with affiliated woodworking traditions practiced at Hoshiarpur and other Panjabi centers. Originally used for domestic architecture, pinjra ornamentation was promoted for articles of Western consumption by John Lockwood Kipling (1837-1911), who served from 1875 to 1893 as the Principal of the Mayo School of Industrial Art in Lahore (now Pakistan’s National College of Art and Design). A similar screen is the Victoria and Albert Museum, London (IS.80-1977). See also AC1999.98.1.

Unknown
Screencirca 1910

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Unknown
Screencirca 1910

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