Chinese export folding screen, 19th century. Six panels. In lacquered wood. It shows marks of use, wear and some flaws in the lacquer. Measurements: 183 x 40 cm. each panel. Screen of six panels or leaves whose front side has been painted with a large folkloric scene hand painted with bright colors on a black lacquer background. Courtesan ladies move, in hissing silk robes and exuberant headdresses, from terrace to terrace of gardens blooming with chrysanthemums. Palatial architecture combines pagodas and open pergolas. Serpentine clouds fray across the sky, following the landscape patterns of traditional Chinese painting. The lower part of each panel is decorated with a Fu dog, also painted on a black background. This genre of paintings with terraces, set in the Chinese imperial court, was a typology in great demand by Europeans, which led to its establishment as a genre of its own in folding screens, fans and free-standing paintings destined for export.