1960s Chinese Reverse-Painted Glass Table Screen With Courtyard Beauties, Hand-Painted Triptych

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A beautifully hand-painted mid-century Chinese reverse-glass table screen, featuring three refined “beauty-in-leisure” scenes rendered in soft mineral pigments. Each panel … Read more A beautifully hand-painted mid-century Chinese reverse-glass table screen, featuring three refined “beauty-in-leisure” scenes rendered in soft mineral pigments. Each panel is reverse-painted on glass, a meticulous technique that requires the artist to paint the front details first—delicate eyes, hair, jewelry—before layering in the background scenery.
The center panel shows a court lady playing the qin within a scholar’s pavilion, framed by swirling incense and a distant mountain landscape. The side panels depict complementary scenes of elegant women reading and holding a round fan, each set within lush interiors with patterned drapery and garden foliage. The carved openwork hardwood frame, with fretwork apron and phoenix-dragon style cresting, completes the piece. Graceful, decorative, and entirely hand-painted, this screen displays beautifully on a console, entry table, or among your chinoiserie décor.

COLLECTOR'S NOTE
Reverse-painted glass panels flourished in China from the late Qing period into the mid-20th century, especially in Canton and Hong Kong workshops. This particular screen dates to the mid-century (c. 1960s), when the work was still fully hand-painted using traditional techniques—unlike the later printed or partly mechanized methods that dominate production today. The scenes of refined court ladies echo classical Ming–Qing literature, where music, poetry, and scholarly leisure signified cultivated taste. Mid-century examples with this level of softness in the faces and fine linework are increasingly sought after by collectors.

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