A Chinese coromandel lacquer six panel screen Kangxi (1662-1721)

decorated in polychrome with scenes depicting various figures on terraces with summer pavilions, within an outer border of 'One Hundred Antiquities', originally probably of twelve panels, lacking top border and outer edges

Chatsworth Inventory, 1764, possibly one of those listed In the great Large Dining Room, Two Chinese Screens

Incredible detail and quality, the screen retaining much of its colour. Each of the panels show some signs of wear including marks, indentations and scratches. Most of the panels have some minor areas of chipping and losses but there is more significant losses to the top left corner of one panel and the edges of two panels. The leather strips on the sides of each panel are distressed. The rear of the screen is plain black lacquer and this side has many signs of wear including losses, chips and scratches.
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It seems highly likely, given the similarity between the lacquered panels in this screen and those to be found on the furniture in the State Rooms at Chatsworth, that the screen is made up from the lacquer work ordered by the 1st Duke of Devonshire.

Gerrit Jensen was responsible for this work and two bills survive. One from 1692 'ye hollow burnt japan' and one from later in that decade  ...'ffor framing moulding & cutting Japan for the Closet & Joining into panels and finishing it', £119 (Devonshire Papers). The State Closet at the end of the enfilade on the second floor must have been one of the most brilliant of rooms clad in vibrant japanned work, interspersed between mirrored panels also supplied by Jensen and pilasters. It lasted only a decade as it was dismantled as part of the 1st Duke's building phase when he turned his attention to the west front. The lacquer seems likely to have been retained and it is thought it was used for the furniture now standing in the State Drawing Room.

A screen of similar date is in the collections of the Duke of Buccleuch at Boughton House, Northamptonshire, where there is also a coromandel-topped, walnut, marquetry and parcel-gilt table attributed to Gerrit Jensen, the top of which is illustrated in Tessa Murdock, Boughton, The English Versailles, London, 1992, p.133, fig. 131.

The name Coromandel is taken from an area on the east coast of India between the Godava River and Nagapatnam which during the late 17th century and the 18th century was occupied by a number of European trading posts. This form of cut and coloured lacquer was actually the product of an area in South China called Wenzhou (Zhejiang province) where it was called kuan cai.  It was much sought after by Dutch and French traders, and also the English, being known to them as bantam work. The actual technique appears to date from the 16th century, its application being described in a book called Xui Shi Lu, or Notes on the Lacquer Industry and Lacquerware dating from the 16th century. Written by Huang Chen, a well known lacquer artist (1557–1572), which was adapted in 1625 by Yang Ming.

The screens were made from vertical panels of softwood which were thoroughly smoothed. Any cracks or imperfections were then filled with a mixture of unpurified lacquer, glue, and bone ash, with the occasional addition of silk and hemp fibres. This was then covered with a textile fabric applied to the base with a paste of lacquer and glue. Further layers of a ground coat containing lacquer and burnt bones were then applied. Final coats of lacquer were then laid onto this surface, each application being carefully rubbed down until a lustrous surface was obtained. It was at this stage that the surfaces were cut with sharp knives to provide the detailed decoration which was then colored with oil-based paints.