A MAGNIFICENT AND VERY RARE HARDWOOD FRAMED KINGFISHER FEATHER-INLAID 'IMMORTALS' SCREEN China, ca. 18th ct. H. 82 / 108,4 cm Decorated with lavish use of turquoise-blue kingfisher feathers and other materials like ivory and corals reserved against a dark ground, depicting Immortals on a terrace near rocks and a phoenix above them all near a pomegranate tree, all set in a shaped skillfully carved hardwood frame carved with scrolls and pomegranates and dragons in low relief with lion feet. Measurements of the panel: 82 x 60,7 x 6,2 cm Important German aristocratic private collection, assembled in China prior to 1904 and owned by the family since then The popularity of the use of the prized feathers in appliqué technique continued into the 18th century, with the majority of workshops specialising in utilising the feathers for decoration and in carving the precious zitan wood, located in Guangzhou. Such works were commissioned by the Qing Court and made as Imperial-tribute. Compare with a pair of related screens with kingfisher feather decoration, Qianlong, in the Shengyang Palace Museum, and a further panel in the Forbidden City, illustrated by B.Jackson, Kingfisher Blue: Treasures of an Ancient Chinese Art, Berkeley, Toronto, 2001, pp.30-31 and 186. See also three other screens decorated with kingfisher feathers, mid Qing dynasty, made in Guangzhou as Imperial-tribute, illustrated by Hu Desheng, Ming Qing Gu Gongting Jia Zhu Da Guan, vol.1, Beijing, 2006, nos.388, 394 and 396. The stand with three lost carved panels , very minor traces of age