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Lot Essay
The depiction of children at play is a visually pleasing, auspicious subject matter that was popular in Chinese art during the Ming dynasty. The subject has its roots in Buddhist beliefs, influenced by Daoism, but by the Tang dynasty (AD 618-907) had become a secular theme associated with the auspicious wish for sons and grandsons. One boy on this dish is depicted holding a lotus stem and this may be a rebus or visual pun. The word for lotus in Chinese is lian which is a homophone for a word meaning continuous or successive, and when combined with a boy suggests the successive birth of sons and grandsons.
While boys at play was a favorite subject during the Ming dynasty, the charming scene on the present dish, sometimes referred to as 'blind man's bluff', is rare. A pair of dishes with the same scene is illustrated by B. McElney in The Museum of East Asian Art Inaugural Exhibition, Volume I, Chinese Ceramics, Bath, 1993, p. 204, no. 157.
While boys at play was a favorite subject during the Ming dynasty, the charming scene on the present dish, sometimes referred to as 'blind man's bluff', is rare. A pair of dishes with the same scene is illustrated by B. McElney in The Museum of East Asian Art Inaugural Exhibition, Volume I, Chinese Ceramics, Bath, 1993, p. 204, no. 157.