1980s Chinese Coromandel 4-Panel Screen by Maitland-Smith, Ltd. Hk

Coromandel is named after the Coromandel Coast in South Eastern India from where the carved screens were originally dispatched to the West by European merchants. The art of making Coromandel requires a skilled hand, a trained eye and a great deal of patience. The frame of the screen is made from laminated wood, which is then sanded and sealed. A final coat is mixed with lime to solidify the sealer into a slate-hard finish. This is followed by the application of 5 to 6 coats of fine Chinese clay, each layer troweled on smoothly and dried for a day before sanding. The entire preparation for each panel of the screen takes more than a week. Finally several layers of background color are applied and when dry, a rice paper drawing of the design to be incised is pasted onto the surface. The piece is now ready to be carved. Coromandel carvers are the most skilled of artists. They must carefully outline the faces and hands of sometimes minute figures, carving the smallest of details such as hair and foliage. They do this with the blade of a special knife which must not pierce the rice paper embedded under the thin layers of hardened lacquer and clay. When the carving is complete, bright colors are painted into the areas which have been carved out and gold leaf is skillfully applied to highlight the decoration. Finally, the piece is ‘antiqued’ to soften the colors and simulate the tone and finish of the ancient original coromandels.