Pair of Fujian Painted Doors with Literati Panels

Pair of Fujian Painted Doors with Literati Panels view 1

Pair of Fujian Painted Doors with Literati Panels view 2

Pair of Fujian Painted Doors with Literati Panels view 3

Pair of Fujian Painted Doors with Literati Panels view 4

Pair of Fujian Painted Doors with Literati Panels view 5

Pair of Fujian Painted Doors with Literati Panels view 6

Pair of Fujian Painted Doors with Literati Panels view 7

Pair of Fujian Painted Doors with Literati Panels view 8

Pair of Fujian Painted Doors with Literati Panels view 9

Pair of Fujian Painted Doors with Literati Panels view 10

Panels & Carvings

Pair of Fujian Painted Doors with Literati Panels

Name: Pair of Fujian Painted Doors with Literati Panels
Brand: The Bougainvilla
Price: 1200 SGD
Availability: InStock

Painted & Gilt Carved Wood · Fujian, China

Indicative gallery retail: SGD 2,200 to SGD 2,400

SGD 1,200

45 to 50% below gallery retail

✓ Covered by the Buyback Promise

A pair of painted and gilt carved doors from Fujian, each 220 cm tall, worked in oxblood, turquoise and gold. The two lower ovals are hand painted with scenes from the Four Loves, the literati set that pairs historical figures with the object of their devotion. The left is inscribed Yuanming ai ju, Tao Yuanming loves chrysanthemums, and shows the fourth century poet who left office to live as a recluse, a boy offering him a spray of chrysanthemum. The right shows Su Dongpo with his inkstone, attended by two boys. Both panels carry a painted inscription and a red seal, and the left also carries a cyclical year and a month, which is unusual on architectural woodwork and worth reading in the close photographs. Above the ovals, small painted cartouches of peach and pomegranate stand for long life and many sons. Higher again, pierced lattice panels are carved as the characters fu and lu, fortune and prosperity, in angular seal script picked out in gold, so the two doors read as a matched pair rather than two doors that happen to be together. At the top, carved scroll cartouches open as unfurled book pages painted with bamboo and orchid. The palette of deep oxblood, turquoise and gold is the Southern Fujian and Teochew idiom, and it is the same visual language as the old Straits Chinese houses here. These have not been stripped or repainted. The paint is worn where a door gets worn and the gilding is thin in places, which is why the colour reads the way it does. They can be hung as a pair, mounted as a headboard, or set into a frame as a room divider. Please read the condition notes and see the photographs.

MaterialsPainted and gilt carved wood, with pierced lattice panels and iron ring pulls

DimensionsH 220 × W 53 cm per door. 106 cm across the pair. Sold as a pair, not separately

Period1940s to 1950s

ConditionHonest age and wear throughout. The oxblood frames are scuffed and rubbed, heaviest along the meeting stiles and the lower rails where hands and feet reach. There is a vertical check running down the centre stile. Both painted ovals carry scattered small paint losses, mostly across the figures’ clothing, with the ground and the inscriptions clear. The gilding on the lattice and the carved surrounds is worn in places to the ground beneath. The pierced lattice is intact with no breaks. Iron ring pulls and the original top pivot pins are present. Never stripped, never repainted. Offered as seen, with more photographs available on request.

Covered by the Buyback Promise: 70% of the sold price back in trade-in credit, or 50% in cash. Full terms

Enquire on WhatsApp

Estimated delivery: SGD 70

Delivery is arranged islandwide and quoted separately. Full condition notes are provided for every piece.

Pair of Fujian Painted Doors with Literati Panels

More from the Collection

Teochew Gilt Lacquer Panel with Court Scenes

Carved Indian Haveli Door with Original Frame

Carved Red Lacquer Door Surround with Gilt Figural Panels

Tibetan Gilt Panel with a Field of Buddhas