'Calypso' Hardwood Carved Folding Screen

A Four-Panel Anglo-Indian Hardwood Screen, circa 1910.

There is something inherently romantic about a folding screen - the suggestion of concealment, of a space behind a space, of a life lived with a little deliberate mystery. This one carries that quality in every carved inch.

Standing heavy and imperious on its carved arched feet, each panel is a study in the restless, exacting craft of decorative woodwork at its most assured. The upper and lower registers are pierced clean through the hardwood in dense foliate arabesques - scrolling, interlocking, endlessly intricate - so that light passes through them casting shifting patterns across any surface they touch. Between these registers, the broad central panels carry fine brass inlay: sinuous botanical compositions worked into warm grain with a delicacy that rewards close looking. Along the cresting, carved finials rise like a small procession above it all.

That both sides are finished identically is no small detail. It speaks to an object made with complete conviction, designed to be seen from every angle.

Fold it behind a sofa or bed and it becomes an architectural element - a backdrop of exceptional texture and depth. In a bathroom positioned before a window, it solves the question of privacy with considerably more style than any alternative, and takes equally well to a draped towel or dressing gown thrown over its cresting. Use it to divide an open-plan space and it filters rather than blocks, the pierced panels lending warmth and layering without sacrificing light. Against dark walls and richly aged textiles, the colour of the wood deepens and the brass catches the light and brings it to life.

Dimensions:

Height 183 cm (72.1 inches)
Width 45.5 cm each panel (17.9 inches)
Depth 11 cm folded altogether (4.3 inches)
Depth 2.8 cm each panel (1.1 inches)

Condition report: Great, original condition. Unaltered. Very heavy.