Apple de Manzana?: Japanese folding screens

Last summer I visited the World's Fair exhibit at the Nelson-Atkins and came across this interesting Japenese folding wall, and it was so great to look at because the waves moved as you moved from side to side and it was all hand embroidered.

Hashio Kiyoshi created a gold-medal winning embroidered screen titled Morning Sea. This piece was first exhibited at the 1915 San Francisco World's Fair. 250 shades of blue silk were used to embroider this panel.

http://www.themagazineantiques.com/articles/inventing-the-modern-world/

While Kiyoshi's work is contemporary, it is clearly true to his culture.
Japanese embroidery has been around for over a thousand years. It was initially used for decorating items that were used for religious ceremonies. With time it became a more artistic skill, and it is now more widely available than it initially was.

http://www.japaneseembroidery.com/nuido/index.html

Folding Screens

Watch up to minute 3:48

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VVnQvhS4vRs&NR=1&feature=endscreen

These folding panels were functional furniture as well as decoration. The content of some of these had a lot to symbolize about the owner, for example, hawks and pines were military representations, while plum trees could represent Zen abbots. It depended on the artist and how they interpreted the profession of the owner.

http://www.metmuseum.org/toah/hd/fold/hd_fold.htm

So to start off on the background information of Japanese folding screens, these images show japanese screens that were painted with ink and covered in gold leaf.