438 



AMERICAN HOMES AND GARDENS 



December, 19 13 



dressed in brocade, with 

 faces and hands painted in 

 gonache. Another type is 

 that reproduced and made 

 from the exquisitely em- 

 broidered head piece of an 

 old French bed, which un- 

 doubtedly, in its original 

 use, extended from the top of 

 the tester to the frame-work 

 of the bed itself and formed 

 part of a complete and 

 elaborate drapery. 



The Louis XIV screen 

 shown, is a fine illustration 

 of the possibilities of the 

 ornate frame as applied to 

 the screen. This consists of 

 delicately carved Circassian 

 walnut and contains a panel 

 of oriental design with fig- 

 ures in "petit-point" against 

 a background of coarser 

 weave. Boucher subjects 

 were also favorite motifs in 

 tapestry when applied to Louis XIV embroidered 



screens and were usually framed in gilded mounts, consist- 

 ent with the period. 



A rarely beautiful English screen of the XVIII century 

 is seen in the two-leafed example illustrated, consisting of 

 panels of brocade with ivory posts. Many fine ones still 

 exist in the four and six leaved screens of stamped or 

 painted Spanish leather, which were usually made tall 

 enough to conceal a person sitting or even standing behind 

 them. Rich textiles or tapestries also were extensively 

 used as coverings for screens of this type toward the end 

 of the XVI century, and in their modern adaptation form 

 a dignified feature of the library or dining-room or a means 

 of shutting off an expanse of hall space where another piece 

 of furniture would be out of place and lacking in use. 



A product of the present day is the glass screen made 

 of small pieces of leaded glass cut in a design within a 

 metal frame, usually brass, and likewise the perforated 

 metal screens, fan shaped. The plain leaves of brass or 

 copper still obtain as screens for teakettles while boiling 



over an alcohol 

 flame. The hand 

 screen, which was 

 little more than a 

 fan to protect one 

 from the heat of 

 an open fire or the 

 glare of a lamp has 

 gradually evolved 

 into the "bougie," 

 shade to be applied 

 by a wire holder to 

 an unprotected can- 

 dle or lamp, as a 

 shield for the eyes. 

 But nowhere in 

 occidental countries 

 is the screen so evi- 

 dent or so much a 

 part of the setting 

 of the palace, as 

 well as the house, as 

 it is in Japan, where 

 nothing is more im- 

 portant among the 





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Courtesy of the Metropolitan Museum of Art 



American needle work screen, about 1 780 



few objects that decorate the 

 room. Referred to as the 

 "byobu," the combination of 

 two words, — byo, meaning 

 to avoid, and fu (which be- 

 comes bu when coupled with 

 another word), meaning 

 wind — its use is significant. 

 This term, however, is only 

 applied to the folding screen, 

 as those of one leaf set in a 

 frame standing on feet, such 

 as are found in the room at 

 the entrance of the Japanese 

 house, to obstruct the view 

 of the interior from the out- 

 side, are known as "tsui- 

 tate." 



The "byobu" also has its 

 use in Japan outside as well 

 as inside the house, as, for 

 example, the eight-paneled 

 nine-foot screens used in for- 

 mer times on the battlefields 

 by high military officials, 

 three-fold boudoir screen when in encampment, and at 



the time of Hideyoshi, (1596), when his celebrated collec- 

 tion, which contained over a hundred screens, was used to 

 line the road to the palace on the occasion of state cere- 

 monies. 



Another early use of the screen in direct contrast were 

 those two feet high and made of eight or ten panels, which 

 were used at the backs of noble persons to prevent draughts 

 when seated, and the pillow screen, still another variety, 

 placed to shield the head of the sleeper. The "byobu" was 

 also used as a suitable and added decoration along the walls 

 of the palaces of great dignitaries at important state func- 

 tions. 



Screen festivals are still held in Japan, during which the 

 best screens are placed in the front rooms in the houses so 

 they can readily be seen from the street. Plain white 

 "byobus" made of paper are used on the occasion of the 

 birth of a child, and it is still the custom to invert the 

 screen at the time of a funeral and to include it as an item 

 of the bride's dowry. The screen, when first introduced 

 into Japan, where it ^^^^^^^ 

 has formed an im- W 

 portant feature of 

 its art and the life 

 of the people, was 

 clumsy and heavy 

 and could be folded 

 only one way, ow- 

 ing to the means by 

 which it was held 

 together, namely, 

 by a piece of cloth 

 which was attached 

 to the panels. But 

 with the gradual 

 adoption of paper 

 as a covering, such 

 as was made in a 

 particularly strong 

 quality by the Ko- 

 reans, the character 

 of the Japanese 

 screens became 

 more delicate and 

 elaborate, and gold 



Courtesy of the Metropolitan Museum of Art 



Chippendale pole-screen and tray rest 



