Screamer

The Sung Period.

In China itself in the Sung period (96o 1279), the practice among prominent masters of painting and in scribing screens was not abandoned. On the contrary, painters like Tuan Yuan, Yen Hsiao, Wen Tung and Hsu Tao-ning are known to have thus expressed their art ; and noted calligraphers applied their brushes after the time-honored custom. The most significant branch of the art of the Sung period was the so-called Idealistic school of painting which was closely followed by the artists of the Yuan (128o-1367) and Ming (1365-1643) dynasties.

Painters of this school attempted to express in their works certain noble thoughts and ideals. A landscape-painting, for example, was an essay which suggested the sublimity of nature and invited the beholder to identify himself with it. The inherent love of nature of the orientals, coupled with the teaching of Chan (in Japanese, Zen), produced artists who showed remarkable aptitude for depicting natural phenomena. Chan means "abstract medita tion," the chief aim of its followers being to seek to separate the real from the unreal by divesting themselves of earthly thoughts and desires and by communing directly with nature. Inspired by this teaching, the artists developed marked individuality and their paintings were characterized by purity and suggestiveness. For their themes, the painters of the Idealistic school chose, be side landscapes, birds, animals and even withered trees and rocks, all of which ordinarily were treated in monochrome with China ink. Unfortunately there exists no example of the typical art of the Sung as applied on screens, nor are there any screens dating from the subsequent Yuan and Ming dynasties, in both of which it is recorded that painted and inscribed screens were produced. It is possible, however, that some of the paintings coming from these periods, now mounted as single hangings, were once panels of folding screens.

The Ashikaga Period.

Again turning to Japan, one can see an echo of the Chinese art of these three dynasties in paintings by Japanese artists of the Ashikaga period (1337-1573). Satan, NOami, Sesshil, Masanobu and Motonobu are outstanding figures who painted in ink on screens after the Chinese idealists. A screen by Satan (Plate IV., fig. ), who died in 1464, may be taken as a typical specimen of this style. The vigour of the brush, the subtle quality of the ink, the well-carried-out atmos pheric perspective—all tell of the master hand which portrays the spirit of majestic nature. This screen is one of a pair which together show landscapes of the four seasons treated as one corn position and consequently forming one composite whole. Beside the "Twelve Monthly Observances" and "Landscapes of the Four Seasons," such themes as "Flowers of the Four Seasons," "Farmers of the Four Seasons," "Lives of the 24 Paragons of Filial Piety," the "Eight Taoist Immortals," etc., frequently occur as single designs. The Idealistic school of painting was carried through the next period, the Momoyama (1574-1602), by artists of the Kano, the Unkoku and the Soga schools. In the screen (Plate IV., fig. 2) by Tohaku (1539-161o) we see a remarkable monochrome; the varied shades of China ink being so used as to suggest the presence of colours, yet with no disturb ing element of pigments and no sense of monotony.

A new type of screen introduced some time in the 14th century from Korea contributed much toward revolutionizing the general scheme of composition. Heretofore, a folding screen had con sisted of a group of separate panels, each with brocaded borders, tied together by means of cords passing through holes pierced at the vertical edges of the panels (Plate III., fig. 1). In the Korean type the leaves were joined by paper hinges which were built into the body of the screen before the silk or paper for painting was pasted, a brocade border extending over the composite whole (see Plate IV.). Whereas in the former style the continuance of the de sign was interfered with by the frame and the brocade borders of each panel, in the latter style the tightly joined leaves made one surface for painting a picture.

Screens characteristic of the Momoyama period, the inherent love of the Japanese for simplicity notwithstanding, are more decorative in type, with backgrounds of gold leaf upon which appear bold designs in solid pigments on a massive scale. Eitoku

(1545-90), who was the chief exponent of the style, is said to have supplied 10o pairs of screens for the Momoyama palace of the Taiko. He painted in two styles, ink and polychrome ; the polychrome screens are very effective ; for example, one of a pair in which are shown foreigners bringing tribute to the Chinese emperor, Tai-tsung, of the T'ang dynasty; the subject—"Bar barians Presenting Tribute"—being symbolic of the peace and prosperity of the country. The popular pictorial motives on screens at this time were "The Dragon and the Tiger," "Lions," "Old Pine Trees" (respectively symbolizing the conflict between spirit and matter, nobility and power, longevity and fidelity). The Tokugawa Period.—In Japan during the Tokugawa period (1603-1868), a new movement in decorative painting was developed by Sotatsu (1576-1643) who preserved the vigorous and broad brush-work practised by the masters in monochrome, but in place of ink used pigments on a gold ground. Even as he adopted the coloring of the old Yamato-e, so he took many themes from old sources, such as the romances of Genji and Ise, the wars of the Hogen and Heiji Eras, the wind and thunder gods. He was also a genius in the impressionistic treatment of flowers and waterscapes on screens. Following Sotatsu's style, Karin (1658-1716) further enlarged upon decorativeness by introduc ing more brilliant colours and more daring composition. In the twofold screen (fig. 6) depicting violent waves is apparent this artist's largeness of conception and power of technique. In the Tokugawa days, artists in all schools—the Kano, the Tosa, the Genre, the Literary, the Realistic—exerted their artistic efforts on screens. In principle, the pictorial scheme for screens by these painters of varied styles had changed little from that of the pre ceding Ashikaga and Momoyama periods and it is still continued to-day. A bold design is treated in dissymmetry, yet is well balanced and effective; at the same time it bears a certain moral, historical, legendary or auspicious significance. The subjects treated were many and varied, including those which have al ready been referred to and also such themes as the "Eight Views of Hsiao Hsing," the "Ten Snow-Incidents," the "A-fang Pleas ance," the "Four Gray-beards of the Shan Mountain," the "Seven Sages of the Bamboo Grove," the "Four Accomplishments," "Floating Fans," "Phoenixes," etc. Generally Japanese screens are six-fold, about 6 ft. in height and 12 ft. in width when stretched, and they are usually executed in pairs. Among the smaller type we may count "pillow" screens with brightly coloured pictures, which are placed about beds, and low, two-fold screens with simple decoration, or none at all, which are used in connection with the tea-ceremony (q.v.).

The Ch'ing Dynasty.—During the Ch'ing dynasty 1911 ) in China, painting on screens was practised, as indicated by the presence of occasional examples dating from the last few centuries. But it is in screens of applied art that the period ex cels. It has already been said that the application of the minor arts to screens began in ancient China. The best known among such screens of recent centuries are the so-called "Coromandel screens" which are made of wooden panels finished with a coat of lacquer, through which designs—landscapes, figures, flowers, auspicious emblems, etc.—are incised and filled with various thick, opaque water-colours ; a technique known from the Ming dynasty. A large portion, however, of the existing specimens are of the 17th to 19th centuries (Plate I., fig. ). "Coromandel" has no bearing upon their provenance, but indicates that these screens of Chinese origin were shipped to European countries from the coast of Coromandel. Other screens in the category of lacquer are those with lacquered .panels (sometimes coated with white oil paint) decorated in gold lacquer; and those of red carved lacquer. Screens of carved teakwood construction set with jade and porcelain plaques, or panelled with silks, tapestries or embroideries, are occasionally seen. (See Plate II.). (See also INTERIOR DECORATION ; JAPANESE PAINTING AND PRINTS ;