18TH-19TH CENTURY

The mountain landscape depicted on the front side of the present screen symbolizes longevity. The plant held by one sage is identified as Rohdea japonica or wannianqing, which conveys the auspicious homophone ‘green for ten thousand years’. The attendant carries a halberd adorned with a pendent chime, forming the rebus jiqing, or ‘auspicious happiness’. Additionally, wutong trees are depicted growing alongside pines and lingzhi, all of which are symbols of longevity. According to legend, the phoenix will only alight on wutong trees, associating them with this mythical bird that appears only in times of peace and prosperity. The decoration of deer and cypress trees on the reverse side further enhances the auspicious meaning of the screen. According to Terese Bartholomew in Hidden Meanings in Chinese Art, San Francisco, 2006, p. 109, the deer and cypress represent the idiom shoutian bailu (May you receive the hundred emoluments from heaven). The deer (lu) is a pun for emoluments, while cypress (bai), which can also refer to juniper and other members of the cypress family, is a pun for 'hundred'.