Screens and Room Dividers
21st Century and Contemporary Italian Screens and Room Dividers
Wood
1940s Argentine Neoclassical Vintage Screens and Room Dividers
Wood
1950s Italian Vintage Screens and Room Dividers
Wood
21st Century and Contemporary Italian Modern Screens and Room Dividers
Metal
1930s American Neoclassical Vintage Screens and Room Dividers
Brass
1830s French Louis Philippe Antique Screens and Room Dividers
Canvas, Wood, Paint
1970s Unknown Modern Vintage Screens and Room Dividers
Brass
1940s Chinese Hollywood Regency Vintage Screens and Room Dividers
Wood
Mid-20th Century Italian Mid-Century Modern Screens and Room Dividers
Wood
1940s French Vintage Screens and Room Dividers
Wood
1950s Italian Mid-Century Modern Vintage Screens and Room Dividers
Metal
Mid-20th Century Chinese Screens and Room Dividers
Wood, Lacquer, Paint
21st Century and Contemporary Italian Modern Screens and Room Dividers
Metal
1950s Chinese Chinoiserie Vintage Screens and Room Dividers
Metal
21st Century and Contemporary Italian Modern Screens and Room Dividers
Brass
Late 20th Century Italian Mid-Century Modern Screens and Room Dividers
Paint
20th Century Italian Screens and Room Dividers
Wood
Late 20th Century Italian Modern Screens and Room Dividers
Metal
20th Century Italian Screens and Room Dividers
Wood, Lacquer
20th Century Italian Mid-Century Modern Screens and Room Dividers
Wood
Early 20th Century Hollywood Regency Screens and Room Dividers
Wood, Paint
Late 20th Century Italian Mid-Century Modern Screens and Room Dividers
Wood
Mid-20th Century Italian Mid-Century Modern Screens and Room Dividers
Wood
1960s Italian Mid-Century Modern Vintage Screens and Room Dividers
Wood
1990s Italian Mid-Century Modern Screens and Room Dividers
Wood
Mid-20th Century Italian Mid-Century Modern Screens and Room Dividers
Wood
1950s Italian Mid-Century Modern Vintage Screens and Room Dividers
Wood
Antique and Vintage Screens and Room Dividers
Whether they are implemented as decorative accents or makeshift partitions to ensure privacy, antique and vintage folding screens and room dividers easily introduce sophistication and depth to any space in your home.
The earliest examples of folding screens are said to have originated in China and go back at least as far as the Han dynasty. Screens of the era were heavy structures made of wood and had hinges of cloth or leather. They were adorned with elaborate landscape paintings that were typically created on silk or paper canvases and applied directly to the screen’s panels afterward. Just as they had been in the 20th century and today, the folding screens then were recognized for both their practical and purely decorative properties.
Japanese room-divider screens were also decorated with paintings but constructed to be lightweight and mobile. They took on considerable event-based importance when the structures gained popularity in the East Asian country, as the folding screens were used in performing arts such as concerts, tea ceremonies and more. Later, artists elsewhere warmed to folding screens and sought to create their own.
In European countries such as France, where they were known as paravent, folding screens began to materialize in apartments in Paris, gaining favor with the likes of pioneering couturier Gabrielle “Coco” Chanel, who is said to have accrued more than 30 and used them as a precursor to what we now know as wallpaper.
On 1stDibs, find a wide range of antique and vintage folding screens and room dividers, which, given their history, may do a better job of bringing people and cultures together in your home than sectioning off a space. Search by material to find options in metal, fabric or wood, or browse by style for mid-century modern designs and examples from the Art Deco era.