I want to talk about what happened at this dinner party a bit more, and what the 'screens' might mean, etc. but first I thought I'd try to find a few pictures of screens for you.

Probably the most similar to what Elinor did

Regency 'style' hand-painted screens
These are newer than S&S time, but done in the style of that time. I guess you'd take the top part off to pass them around?

These are needlepoint rather than painted, and from the 1840s, but I think give a better idea of the size and shape these would have been. I think the purpose was to shield the face from the warmth of the fire?

A different example, painted