A RARE CHINESE KINGFISHER FEATHER TABLE SCREEN

QING DYNASTY

Depicting a river landscape with a distant village behind a fence, with trees, a pagoda and other buildings in the foreground, and with boats and sampans in between, with poems and seals describing the scene, all on a black velvet ground, glazed and mounted on a wooden stand, 63cm. (2)

Cf. Imperial Furniture of Ming & Qing Dynasties, Classics of the Forbidden City, no.320 and 322 for related examples.

The technique of inlaying feathers is called diancui, meaning 'dotting the kingfishers', whereby the feather is cut into shape and attached with glue onto the base. The most expensive and highest quality works traditionally used feathers imported from Cambodia and it is said that Chinese imperial demand for kingfisher feathers may have contributed to the wealth of the Khmer Empire.