19th Century Japanese Meiji Four Panel Screen Festival Scenes
Located in Rio Vista, CA
Colorful late 19th century late Meiji period four-panel byobu screen featuring 12 scenes of a festival preparation.
Brass
Japanese Meiji Four Panel Screen Ducks and Geese in Flight
Located in Rio Vista, CA
Serene late 19th century Japanese Meiji Period four-panel screen capturing ducks and geese mid-flight across a tranquil, dreamlike landscape with clouds.
Brass
Meiji Period Japanese Four Panel Screen Bijin At Leisure
Located in Hudson, NY
Japanese four panel screen: Bijin At Leisure. Ladies in a tea house with a small dog.
Silk, Wood
19th Century Shibayama Four Panel Screen Meiji Period Japan, C.1880
Located in London, GB
19th century Shibayama four Panel screen Meiji Period Japan C.1880 Mother of pearl inlay in black lacquer depicting a bird in relief with cherry blossom.
Mother-of-Pearl, Wood, Lacquer
Japanese Asian Edo Meiji Four Panel Folding Byobu Screen Lakeside & Maple Tree
Located in Studio City, CA
A beautiful, quite engaging four-panel Edo Period Japanese Byobu folding screen depicting a nature landscape lakeside scene with various people fishing, boating, playing along the mi...
Gold Leaf
Japanese Meiji Period Four-Panel Screen w Flying Cranes and Landscape, Ca. 1900
Located in New York, NY
Japanese Meiji Period Four-Panel Screen with Flying Cranes and Landscape, Ca. 1900 DIMENSIONS Wid...
Wood
Japanese Four Panel Screen: Early Spring Into Summer
Located in Hudson, NY
Japanese Four Panel Screen: Early Spring Into Summer, Meiji period (1868 -1912) painting of plum in bloom with red camellias on the right and peony and thistle on the left.
Gold Leaf
Antique Japanese Hand-Painted Four-Panel Folding Table Screen
Located in Miami, FL
Antique Japanese hand-painted four-panel folding table screen depicting birds, bamboo and flowering branches. Painted on paper with a silk border and wood framed. Height: 35" wid...
Paper, Silk, Wood
Japanese Meiji Four Panel Screen After Tawaraya Sotatsu
Located in Rio Vista, CA
Fascinating late 19th century Japanese Meiji period four panel folding byobu screen. Made in the Nihonga school style with Rimpa school influence and bearing a Rimpa school seal Inen.
Brass
Japanese Meiji Four Panel Screen White Egrets in Winter Landscape
Located in Rio Vista, CA
Late 19th century serene Japanese Meiji period four panel folding byobu screen featuring a flock of white egrets in a misty winter landscape.
Silk, Wood, Paper
Japanese Four-Panel Byobu Screen of Cranes and Willow on Gold Leaf
Located in Rio Vista, CA
Early 20th century Japanese Meiji four-panel screen featuring cranes and a willow tree.
Brass, Gold Leaf
Japanese Meiji Four-Panel Moriage Style Chrysanthemum Screen
Located in Rio Vista, CA
Dramatic early 20th century Japanese late Meiji period Byobu screen featuring painted chrysanthemums. Made in a rare moriage design with raised white flowers for a beautiful 3D effec...
Brass
Sold
H 68.12 in W 64.18 in D 0.79 in
Red Japanese Lacquer Four-Panels Folding Screen, Meiji Period, 1868-1912
Located in Saint-Ouen, FR
Red Japanese lacquer four panels folding screen "{yonkyoku byobu}". The panels are decorated with gold highlights.
Lacquer
Japanese Four Panel Screen Flowering Prunus Tree
Located in Rio Vista, CA
Impressive Japanese four panel screen depicting ancient flowering prunus tree with spring blossoms. Painted with ink and color pigments over gilt squares in the Nihonga school style....
Brass
Japanese Four-Panel Screen Prunus Tree with Nandina
Located in Rio Vista, CA
Colorful Japanese four-panel screen depicting a prunus tree with a songbird perched in a red fruiting Nandina or sacred bamboo. Made in the Nihonga school style. Ink and color pigmen...
Wood, Paper
Japanese Four-Panel Showa Screen Pheasant and Peonies
Located in Rio Vista, CA
Charming Japanese Showa period four-panel screen depicting a pheasant and her chicks next to blooms of colorful red and white peonies. Ink and color pigments on printed paper with gi...
Silk, Wood, Paper
Japanese Four Panel Silk Byobu Screen of Chrysanthemums
Located in Rio Vista, CA
Vintage Japanese four panel silk Byobu screen of delicate chrysanthemums and a small bird. Features a hand-painted gold silk ground bordered with a silk brocade. Water damage stain o...
Brass
Japanese Four-Panel Screen Quail in Autumn Landscape
Located in Rio Vista, CA
Serene Japanese four-panel byobu screen depicting three quail in an autumn landscape with eulalia, pampas grass and Chinese bellflowers. Ink and color on gold color paper made in the...
Brass
Japanese Four-Panel Blue Mountain Landscape Byobu Screen
Located in Rio Vista, CA
Dramatic Japanese four-panel landscape byobu screen featuring a blue mountain landscape scene. Painted on silk reminiscent of a Chinese splash color artist style with deep hues of gr...
Brass
Japanese Four Panel Screen of Ducks and Prunus on Gold Leaf
Located in Rio Vista, CA
Colorful Japanese four panel byobu folding screen depicting a pair of ducks near a prunus blossom flowering tree. Bordered by silk and set into an ebonized wood frame. Beautifully pa...
Gold Leaf
Japanese Four Panel Screen Buck and Doe with Autumn Maple on Gold
Located in Hudson, NY
Japanese four panel screen: Buck and doe with autumn maple on gold.
Gold Leaf
Japanese Meiji Period Screen of Red-Crowned Cranes
Located in Rio Vista, CA
Impressive Japanese four-panel Meiji period screen depicting a landscape scene with cranes.
Brass
Japanese Four-Panel Byobu Screen of Quail and Flowers
Located in Rio Vista, CA
Beautiful Japanese four-panel Byobu screen featuring Japanese quail and spring flowers on a gilt background. Set with a silk brocade border in an ebonized wood frame. Signed and seal...
Silk, Wood, Paint, Paper
Sold
H 4.75 in W 8.75 in D 0.25 in
Bronze Mixed Metal Japanese Meiji Era Four Panel 2 Sided Table Screen Signed
Located in Ann Arbor, MI
A good Japanese bronze and shakudo miniature table screen, Meiji period, each panel in a gilt bronze frame, one panel depicts figures caught in a rainstorm with lightning, signed low...
Bronze
Weathered Japanese Meiji Four Panel Screen Tale of Genji
Located in Rio Vista, CA
Beautifully aged and weathered late 19th century Japanese Meiji period four-panel byobu screen featuring a scene from the Tale of Genji.
Silk, Wood, Paper
Japanese Meiji Four Panel Screen Chrysanthemums Along a Fence
Located in Rio Vista, CA
Extraordinary Japanese late Meiji period four panel screen depicting colorful chrysanthemums growing along a brushwood fence.
Brass, Silver Leaf
Japanese Meiji Four Panel Screen Wild Geese Over Reeds
Located in Rio Vista, CA
Muromachi period inspired Japanese four panel byobu screen depicting wild geese in flight over reeds.
Brass
Japanese Meiji Four Panel Screen Flowering Grasses of Autumn
Located in Rio Vista, CA
Remarkable late 19th century Meiji period Japanese four panel byobu screen featuring the flowering grasses of autumn: Chinese bellflower, bush clover, and ominaeshi (Patrinia Scabios...
Silver Leaf
Japanese Meiji Period Four-Panel Landscape Screen
Located in Rio Vista, CA
Dramatic Japanese late Meiji early Showa period landscape screen titled Mountain Residence. Ink and color pigments on paper made in the Nihonga school style. Signed Sankyo and dated ...
Brass
Japanese Four-Panel Screen Water Landscape
Located in Hudson, NY
Japanese four-panel screen: Water landscape, Meiji period (1868-1912) painting of a waterfall on the left, leading to a meandering stream amongst a hilly landscape.
Silver Leaf
Japanese Four-Panel Byobu Gilt Landscape Screen
Located in Rio Vista, CA
Large Japanese four-panel Byobu screen featuring a painted mountain landscape on a gilt background. Beautiful and delicate scene of rivers and valleys. Signed with a seal on the lowe...
Brass
Japanese Four-Panel Silk Landscape Byobu Screen
Located in Rio Vista, CA
Exceptional Japanese four-panel Byobu screen of a mountain landscape painted on silk. The background features mountains and waterfalls with a small treed village in the center. The s...
Brass
Japanese Four-Panel Flowers of Autumn Byobu Screen
Located in Rio Vista, CA
Gorgeous Japanese four-panel byobu screen depicting colorful flowers of autumn. Chrysanthemum (kiku) and Rose of Sharon (Mukuge) painted on gilt printed paper with squares. Ink, colo...
Silk, Paper, Wood
Japanese Four-Panel Screen Winter Pine with Ducks
Located in Rio Vista, CA
Unique Japanese four-panel screen depicting a cool winter landscape with pine, prunus, and bamboo. Two colorful ducks on a pond in the background of this idyllic setting. Ink and col...
Silk, Glass, Paper, Wood
Japanese Four-Panel Kano School Manchurian Crane Screen
Located in Rio Vista, CA
Colorful Japanese four-panel screen made in the kano school style depicting five Manchurian cranes or red-crowned cranes. Interesting landscape with a setting red sun and vivid blue ...
Silver Leaf, Brass
From 1868 to 1912, Emperor Mutsuhito oversaw an era of transformation in Japan. Formerly a country of feudalism and isolation, Japan entered an age of modernization influenced by newly established trade and exchange with the West. The Meiji period, or period of “enlightened rule,” also saw the global impact of the East Asian country’s culture. Japanese Meiji furniture was exhibited at expositions from Paris to San Francisco and created for export.
Prior to the Meiji era, furniture was mostly made by commission for the ruling class; now there were new domestic and international markets. European styles like Japonisme appropriated Japanese design while craftsmen in places like Wales and England employed japanning, a varnishing technique that approximated the appearance of lacquer for the surfaces of furnishings.
Meiji furniture made for Japanese homes and buildings constructed in Western styles resulted in taller tables, chairs, cabinets with large drawers and other features. The government invested in areas such as transportation and communication, and because people could freely choose occupations after the restrictions of feudalism, industries of various types were energized by expressive new ideas during those years. Art schools were formed and, for the first time, design was an area of study in the country, leading to the evolution of professional design as a career by the 1890s.
The work of Japanese designers was transmitted widely through lavishly illustrated pattern books that included designs for screens and lacquerware for the home. While screens today may be of use as decorative accents or partitions to ensure privacy in one’s space, Japanese screens were adorned with paintings and were featured in performing arts such as concerts, tea ceremonies and more. The color illustrations that characterize Meiji woodblock prints, a genre of Japanese art that grew out of 17th-century developments in printing and book publishing, depicted the sweeping changes that the era brought to East Asia.
Although it was a time of societal and cultural shifts, a bolstered interest in art and design elevated Japanese craft traditions. From colorful porcelain table lamps with silk shades and hardwood tables decorated with dark lacquer to cabinets featuring iron hardware and inlaid with mother-of-pearl, Meiji furniture showcased Japan’s artistic heritage to the world.
Find a collection of antique Japanese Meiji period case pieces and storage cabinets, decorative objects, wall decorations and more furniture on 1stDibs.
Traditional Asian paintings were often created on scrolls and folding screens. Artisans made screens that could be folded up or spread out by connecting several panels using hinges. Today, antique Asian folding screens and paintings are sophisticated decorative accents that can serve as makeshift partitions to ensure privacy.
The original folding screens were created by Chinese artists. The earliest record of screens comes from the 2nd century B.C., and surviving examples date back to the Ming dynasty. Chinese painting utilizes many of the same tools as calligraphy — these screens were crafted from wood with painted panels featuring striking art or calligraphy that told cultural stories or represented nature and life in the area.
The practice was introduced to Japan, where paintings for screens were made on paper and silk, in the 8th century. These paintings frequently feature subjects such as landscapes, animals, flowers and Buddhist religious themes. Along with screens for tea ceremonies and dance backgrounds, there were screens for use in Shinto and Buddhist temples.
In the 17th century, screens began to be imported to Europe where their popularity grew. Coco Chanel famously collected Coromandel folding screens.
Traditional Asian paintings can make a tasteful addition to any wall, and screens can be used as decoration or, in the case of larger iterations, as an aesthetic way to divide a large room. Browse the selection of antique Asian paintings and screens from a variety of styles and eras on 1stDibs.