Lot Essay
This highly decorative screen is of a type favoured among the intellectual elite in Qing Dynasty China and according to the inscription appears to have been presented to a high-ranking official by his contemporaries on the occasion of his 60th birthday. In line with other screens of this type, it records in great detail, in the most colourful terms and in a flowery language important achievements and biographical details of this hexagenarian. The structure of the text is dominated by references to events linked with the Imperial Court, such as the occasion of an important award ceremony for graduates of the Imperial Examination System, held on a certain birthday of the Kangxi Emperor. The biography/eulogy is followed by an exhaustive list of the signatories (or donors) in a smaller script.