CHINA ARQUEOLOGIA golden-age-chinese-archayeolog

and secured within the wooden frame; layers of
black and brown lacquer cover the frame and part
of the animals, while details of the carvings are
picked out in colors, including red, blue, silver-gray,
and yellow. Some of the colors have faded in the
years since the discovery of the screen, and the
original decoration probably included other pigments
that have not survived (though the date of
this screen coincides with the practice of mixing
pigments in oil — rather than directly into raw
lacquer — to ensure the stability of the color). The
level of the screen s artistry and craftsmanship is
representative of the works of art made for the elite
of the Chu kingdom, and even perhaps for members
of the royal family. AT
1 Excavated in 1965; published: Hubei 1966, 47, fig. 19; pis. 2
and 3; Juliano 1975; Hubei 1994, no. i; Hubei 1996, fig. 66,
color pi. 2 and pis. 33-34; Tokyo 19983, no. 28.
2 Thote 1993.
3 Jacobson 1988.
FIG. i. Cat. no: from
above; horizontal view;
from side; from below.
Adapted from Hubei 1996,
94- fig. 66.
317 | CHU LACQUERS FROM HUBEI