A LARGE DARK WOOD OPENWORK SCREEN

This folding screen is elegantly decorated combining geometric forms and depictions of deities within lobed arches. The recognisable deities are rendered in a folk-style like the bronzes found in Bengal. However, the square open-work panels with their intricate interlocked or re-iterated geometric forms, find parallel in the red sandstone and white marble jalis found in Mughal palaces. The upper hemispherical panel echoes the jalis of the Ahmedabad Jami masjid. The impressive size of our screen and the melange of style perhaps suggests a production for a particular event, perhaps one of the many European exhibitions of the late 19th century.