REPUBLIC PERIOD (1912-1949)

Details

A FAMILLE ROSE 'BOYS' TABLE SCREEN
REPUBLIC PERIOD (1912-1949)
The shaped plaque is delicately painted on one side with a garden scene depicting sixteen boys playing with lanterns, musical instruments and toys, with a bat in flight above them. The lower right corner is inscribed in iron red with the four-character seal linzhi chengxiang, 'The qilin's footprints reveal great luck.' The plaque is set within a wire-inlaid wood frame and supported on an elaborately carved boxwood and wire-inlaid tiered stand.
19 1/8 in. (48.5 cm.) high overall

Provenance

Agatha and Irving Aronson, San Diego, California, acquired circa 1950-1970.

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Lot Essay

A porcelain plaque decorated with a similar scene of boys at play in a garden, which is painted in a similar delicate style and also has a decorative border, is in the collection of the Asian Art Museum, San Francisco, and is illustrated by Terese Tse Bartholomew in Hidden Meanings in Chinese Art, San Francisco, 2006, p. 63, no. 3.4.1, and front and back cover. The author notes, p. 63, that the theme of boys at play (yingxi tu) is popular in Chinese decorative arts, as it reflects the Chinese desire for many sons, "particularly noble sons who will pass the civil service examination with high honors".

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