A silk brocade 'boys and lotus' panel, Song dynasty | 宋 纏枝蓮花嬰采紋錦

Geng Zhi Tang Collection.

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Woven with intricate patterns, this splendid jin brocade exemplifies the outstanding craftsmanship of Song textiles. During the Song period (960-1279), silk production experienced remarkable advancements, leading to the creation of fabrics with increasingly intricate designs and patterns. Children at play is one of the most popular motifs of the Song and Jin periods (12th-13th century), which can be found in this brocade as well as other works of art, such as a Ding ware bowl with boy and lotus-scroll decoration, sold in our Hong Kong rooms, 29th April 2022, lot 3695.

Compare a Song fragment of ling (twill-weave silk) with boys in floral scrolls in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York (accession no. 52.8) ; another piece of similar design is illustrated in Gao Hanyu, Chinese Textile Designs, London, 1992, pl. 43; a third example, a tabby with motifs of peonies and boys playing, attributed to the Western Xia dynasty (1038-1227), is illustrated in Dieter Kuhn ed., Chinese Silk, New Heaven & London, 2012, fig. 6.42, p. 303.