Miss De Bourgh was pale and sickly; her features, though not plain, were insignificant; and she spoke very little, except in a low voice to Mrs. Jenkinson, in whose appearance there was nothing remarkable, and who was entirely engaged in listening to what she said, and placing a screen in the proper direction before her eyes.

Chapter 29

I thought you might be interested to see the type of fire screen Mrs Jenkinson is so assiduously placing in front of Miss de Bough to protect her delicate complexion form the fire.

Fire screen were first introduced in the late 17th century. The fashion for small rooms with coal burning grates was the inspiration for the development of a screen to protect ladies faces from developing an unpleasant flush form the heat

Originally these pole screens were of quite large dimensions but form the 1770s following the designs of Robert Adam they became lighter and more elegant. They were mostly made of mahogany ,satinwood and rosewood, though they could be made from japanned or painted beech: they were often painted to match the décor of a particular room(see Page 84-5 of Small Antique Furniture by Bernard and Threle Hughes.)

Here is Thomas Sheraton’s Trade Card

And here is the frontispiece of his book of designs for furnitureThe Cabinet Maker and Upholsterer’s Drawing Book (1793).

Here are his designs for pole screens.

George Hepplewhite also produced designs for pole screens in his book The Cabinet Maker and Upholsterer’s Guide etc (1778).

Here are some:

I should imagine that Miss De Bourgh’s screen was something like this, shouldn’t you ;-)