Fire Screen with Shell-Matching Game
Unknown Artist
c. 1870–80
Medium
Gilt wood frame with embroidered silk gift cover mounted as a panel
Dimensions
135.9 × 86.4 × 40.6 cm
Classification
Furniture and woodwork
Department
Decorative Art and Design
Museum
Cleveland Museum of Art
Credit
Dudley P. Allen Fund
Accession Number
2007.182
Rights
Public Domain
About this artwork
This screen shielded sitters from the heat of a fireplace. The panel incorporates a Japanese cloth gift cover (fukusa), demonstrating the 19th-century fashion in France for Japanese aesthetics. The French frame is carved to resemble bamboo. In Japan, people traditionally draped fukusa over gifts, selecting designs relevant to the occasion. The lids of the hexagonal lacquer game-piece boxes have a crane in clouds and a tortoise in waves, both symbols of longevity. Wedding gift sets often included...