NORTHERN SONG/JIN DYNASTY, 11TH-12TH CENTURY

The motif of boys playing amidst flowers was popular during the Song dynasty, appearing not only on ceramics but also textiles and other medium. Two Yaozhou bowls of similar date, and shape, depicting boys playing amidst stems of lotus and saggitaria on one, and peony on the other, are illustrated by R. Krahl, Chinese Ceramics from the Meiyintang Collection, vol. 1, London, 1994, p. 238, nos. 427 and 428. Two others, in the Victoria and Albert Museum and the Metropolitan Museum of Art, are illustrated by J. Wirgin, Sung Ceramic Designs, London, 1979 ed., pls. 6a and 6b. The flowers on the present bowl are different from those depicted on the aforementioned bowls.