This same author refers to four screens of white jade (regarded by the Chinese as the most precious of precious stones), the handles of an odoriferous amber, that were offered by the Emperor Chun-Hi of the Southern Sung dynasty, 1174-1190, to his Empress. At this time the screens were ornamented with incrustation and inscription, which was much esteemed, and this author quotes a curious passage from the _Annals of the Thsi_ to the effect that Wang-sun-pen, of Kin-ling, represented in the space of a few inches a perspective view of rivers, mountains, valleys, and plains, stretching over a thousand miles of land. These screen pictures are referred to in the _Ku yü t’ou pu_, an illustrated catalogue of ancient jade, in one hundred books, compiled in 1176 by an imperial commission headed by Lung Ta-Yuan, President of the Board of Rites. The small hand-screens assume a variety of forms—circular, pear-shaped, heart-shaped, etc., and are made of various materials, as—(1) The natural palm leaf, seen in the Chinese painting, British Museum, 37. (2) The palm leaf cut to various shapes, with a bamboo handle running up the middle, as in the Japanese example given on page 61. (3) Of bamboo; from Chinese records we learn that on the fifth day of the fifth month of the year corresponding to our 219, the Emperor presented to the members of the Imperial Academy a fan of bamboo, carved and painted blue. There is also a record of an existing fan of oblong form, made of bamboo leaf, ornamented with bulrushes, an inscription on the field of the fan. This dates from the sixth century A.D. (4) Of the turtle shell: the two portions held together with metal plates, with a wooden or other handle, examples of which occur in the Musée Guimet, Paris. (5) Of silk stretched upon a frame, with painted or other decoration, as in the two charming examples illustrated from the collection of Mr. W. Crewdson. Both front and reverse are given: the latter decorated in that system of feather-work much affected by the Chinese, and in which they display great skill. The feathers are usually the turquoise tinted plumes of the kingfisher: in the present instance the design is alternated by an imbrication of peacocks’ feathers. The handles are of carved ivory. [Illustration: Hand screen, Chinese, painted silk, reverse embroidered feather work, carved ivory handle. Mr Wilson Crewdson.] There are also the cockade screens, usually of ivory or sandalwood. Representations of the earlier large ceremonial banner screens appear on a carved pedestal of a Buddhist image, Northern Wei dynasty, A.D. 524; these are oval in form, and are seen in both sculptured and painted representations down to recent times. In the Musée Guimet in Paris is a large fan of red lacquer framework (reversed heart shape) enclosing a series of metal ribs through which the wind plays; in the centre are painted dragons.