Table screen with landscape — Daily Hue for July 26, 2026
Unknown · second half 15th century · The Metropolitan Museum of Art
Hidden color: Deep Moderate Turquoise (#236853)
About this puzzle
The scene is filled with deep greens and blues, but the longer you look, the more details begin to emerge: distant mountains, curling clouds, trees, a winding path, and several small figures gathered in the landscape. Rather than being painted on paper or silk, this unusual work is made from cloisonné enamel on copper, a technique that allowed the artist to build the image from tiny sections of colored enamel separated by thin metal wires. The wires become part of the design, tracing the landscape almost like delicate brushstrokes. Created in China during the second half of the fifteenth century, the screen belongs to a rare group of landscape works made by the imperial Ming workshop.
Table Screen with Landscape shows how Chinese artists could adapt traditional painting ideas to an entirely different material. The composition draws on the long tradition of Chinese landscape painting, where mountains, trees, clouds, and small human figures are arranged to suggest a much larger world. The tiny people in the scene are especially easy to miss, but they give the landscape a sense of scale and make it feel inhabited rather than empty. Its rich blue-and-green palette also gives the screen a jewel-like quality, while the wooden frame and stand allow it to function as a decorative object as well as an image. It is a fascinating example of how painting, craftsmanship, and luxury decoration could come together in Ming China.