Chic Coromandel Screens

A Coromandel screen consists of wooden folding panels coated in black or dark lacquer usually carved and sometimes decorated with jade, semi-precious stones, shell, or porcelain. According to Encyclopedia Britannica, "although these screens were probably made in northern or central China during the Kangxi period (1661–1722) of the Qing dynasty, they received their name from India’s Coromandel coast, where they were transshipped to Europe in the late 17th and early 18th centuries by merchants of the English and French East India companies."

Coco Chanel was famous for owning over 32 Coromandel screens that decorated her 31 rue Cambon apartment in Paris. In some areas she applied them to the walls like wallpaper. "I've loved Chinese screens since I was eighteen years old... I nearly fainted with joy when, entering a Chinese shop I saw a Coromandel for the first time. Screens were the first thing I bought," she said. Even today, many interior designers and home owners carry on her appreciation of Coromandel screens in their own interiors. They work in any room but I especially love them hung or displayed behind a sofa. Enjoy!