A LARGE 'HUNDRED BOYS' PAINTING QING DYNASTY, 18TH CENTURY

ink and colour on paper, mounted on canvas, brightly painted depicting two ladies, one seated at a table with the auspicious 'hundred boys' joyfully engaged in various pursuits, some holding baskets of flowers, while some gather around a large fishbowl peering at their reflection, others playing with puppies and bats, all within a fenced lush garden with birds in pine trees

This work is composed of two horizontally joined sections that have been laid on silk and backed on to board. There is a vertical tear to the top right hand corner of the work 6cm an a buckled area around this. There are damaged areas to the left hand edge running 40cm into the work and an associated 10cm repaired horizontal tear running from this. There is a damaged and stained area below this that runs down to the bottom left hand corner. There are also a number of other repaired horizontal and vertical tears to the work in various areas and some areas where the paper surface has flaked/chipped off. There is also some general staining throughout which is consistent with its age.
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Depicting a charming scene of numerous children at play while two court ladies keep watch, this artistic genre of mother and child evolved in elite Chinese painting from the eighth century. Imported images of children from Buddhism and Christianity travelled into China into the imperial court at Chang’an, one of the most cosmopolitan political and wealthiest centres in the world. The international culture that flourished at the Tang court drew upon the resources of the world to define a golden age of Chinese art and remained an influential style throughout Chinese history, as seen in the present painting. Throughout the evolution of this early and popular genre, children are inseparable from their mothers as the women of the imperial harem were regarded in much the same way as the mother of the Buddha. These women gave birth to and raised young princes and princesses of the imperial family so that the structure of the Son of Heaven’s rule over his earthly kingdom would continue.

The many boys painted on this painting also reference the ‘Hundred Boys’ theme, which was frequently employed on the occasion of weddings. The ‘hundred boys’ refers to King Wen of the Zhou dynasty, who had ninety-nine sons and adopted one more to make a total of one hundred. This theme symbolises the wish for an abundance of sons and continuation of the family line, as well as the wish for the generations of these families celebrate success in the imperial examinations. Within this theme lies further auspicious wishes including the various activities that the children are engaged in, such as ‘May the five blessings come from the sky (ping’an wufu zitianlai)’ through the boys catching the five bats on the left; and the combination of peonies with boys playing with carps which represents ‘May you have an abundance of riches and honour year after year’.

Paintings attributed to the Qing dynasty depicting similar scenes of boys at play include an album, ‘Children at Play’, in the Qing Court collection and still in Beijing, illustrated in The Complete Collection of Treasures of the Palace Museum. Genre Paintings of the Ming and Qing Dynasties, Hong Kong, 2008, pl. 57, together with a hanging scroll, ‘Children Watching Their Images Reflected in the Water Basin’, by Ding Guanpeng, pl. 56, where it is noted that this motif of children peering into their reflection originates in a painting by the Song dynasty painter Liu Zongdao.

See also a large court painting by Leng Mei (fl. 1700-1742) of ‘Children at Play’, depicting a joyful scene of the ‘Hundred Boys’ engaged in various auspicious activities, offered in these rooms, 9th October 2012, lot 3008.