Beginning in the sixteenth century, we have records of Chinese folding screens produced in the kuancai incised lacquer technique. Cut into a surface of pigmented lacquer (usually black or brown) with fillers below, the recessed forms were then colorfully pigmented to create pictorial scenes. By the late Ming period (1573–1644 CE), such objects had become impressive gifts for ceremonial occasions within China. A large number of Chinese lacquer screens meant to honor the Chinese recipient pictured a wealthy household from above the walls of the estate, enhanced by diverse recreations within the compound, and, in some cases, guests bringing gifts (see Fig. 9.1). Carved inscriptions show that many screens were dedicated at the time of an academic success, or to celebrate a stately elder's birthday or retirement gathering. Most lacquer screens had an elaborate “primary” face, and a more formulaic “verso” set of images, often bird and flower arrangements. Like the compositions in elite printed books in the late Ming and Qing dynasties, the central imagery is often enhanced with decorative pictorial borders. Beginning in the seventeenth century, incised lacquer folding screens were also exported from East Asia to Europe, European colonial outposts, and the New World.

The subject of this essay concerns a Chinese screen genre less common than the “estate celebration” compositions—that of hunting foreigners, which picture Europeans and their multi-ethnic cohort hunting on horseback and on foot.