Screens and Room Dividers
Late 20th Century American Screens and Room Dividers
Steel
20th Century American Art Deco Screens and Room Dividers
Metal
20th Century Screens and Room Dividers
1970s French Vintage Screens and Room Dividers
Glass
1950s Vintage Screens and Room Dividers
Hardwood
20th Century Vienna Secession Screens and Room Dividers
Gold Leaf, Silver Leaf
Early 1700s French Baroque Antique Screens and Room Dividers
Tapestry, Walnut
20th Century French Louis XVI Screens and Room Dividers
Fabric, Wood
1960s American Mid-Century Modern Vintage Screens and Room Dividers
Iron
1970s Italian Mid-Century Modern Vintage Screens and Room Dividers
Bamboo
Late 19th Century Indian Anglo Raj Antique Screens and Room Dividers
Hardwood
Mid-20th Century Belgian Hollywood Regency Screens and Room Dividers
Wood
Late 19th Century French Belle Époque Antique Screens and Room Dividers
Canvas, Silk, Wood, Paint
Late 20th Century Mid-Century Modern Screens and Room Dividers
Brass
Vintage Screens and Antique Room Dividers on 1stDibs: Japanese Screens, Chinese Screens and Art Deco Screens for Sale
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.