Oriental furniture and items (II)
The very early screens became more than just a means of privacy or beauty. Like scrolls, they kept before the eyes the moral sayings and quotations of great men. The Coromandel screens were lacquered and decorated with designs which cut through the lacquer into the wood. The spaces were then filled with thick opaque water colors. These screens came to be called Coromandel screens not because of the way they were decorated but because they were shipped for re-export from the Coromandel Coast of South India. Traditional Chinese furniture was little suited to the European lifestyle, European home design and another design of furniture was created to suit the European taste.
Thus was born what was called “Chinoiserie” — bulkier and less intricate pieces of furniture which retained the fine Chinese hand painting and lacquer work which the Chinese are universally famous for, added Mrs. Pauline. Of all Korea’s forms of art, the best known are the chests which are a legacy of the Yi Dynasty. Chests were the sole furnishings in Korean homes and into the chests were put the bedrolls for sleeping, clothing, books, documents, herbs and foodstuffs — each chest designated for a particular use and having a distinctive design and decoration, making it suitable for your home design. The great variety of brass or black iron decoration on the chests can represent such things as the bat symbolic of patience, the fish symbolic of the male child, butterfly for happiness, and crane for fidelity and turtle for longevity.
