Four-panel painted and framed screen, China, 19th century Each panel painted on silk reveals a scene from Chinese courtly life, featuring elegant figures in a bucolic setting of mountain landscapes, gardens and pavilions. Each painting bears an inscription. The first accompanied by a seal indicates that the paintings were made in the brush style of "Tang Jieyuan" - 唐解元. On the second, a cyclical date 丁丑 - ding chou (probably 1877), "made after the Qingming festival (traditional Chinese festival dedicated to the ancestors), written or painted in Gugang". Then comes a reference to the "Master of the Fragrant Mountain", and finally: "San Liu Yan dedicated or offered this". Then comes on the next panel the signature 劉延傑 - Liú Yán Jié followed by a seal and, finally, on the last panel the signature followed by a seal 俊三 - Jùn Sān. Height: 143 cm; leaf width: 42 cm These may be four independent paintings mounted as screens in Europe.