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Lot Essay
The depiction of children in Chinese art has its roots in Buddhist beliefs influenced by Daoism. Chinese Buddhism saw the soul newly born into paradise as an infant, although this is not how it is described in the Sukhavati-vyuha, 'The Sutra on the Buddha of Eternal Life'. This change to the Indian view was almost certainly due in part to the influence of the Shangqing Daoist vision of the self in embryonic state. It was also the Chinese monk, Zhi Dun (AD 314-366) who first described the re-born soul as entering Sukhavati, 'The Place of Great Bliss', through the calyx of a lotus flower. By the Tang dynasty images of round-cheeked children were no longer confined to religious art, but began to appear in a secular context as an auspicious symbol.
As early as the Southern Song period, the imagery of boys at play, set in a garden scene became a favoured theme in paintings popularised by the Southern Song court artist, Su Hanchen, who was active during early 12th Century. An example of Su Hanchen's painting is in the National Palace Museum collection, Taipei, entitled 'Boys at Play in an Autumn Garden', illustrated in Zhongguo Huihua Quanji, vol. 3, Zhejiang renmin meishu chubanshe, p. 140, no. 100. The Southern Song depiction of children with characteristic shaven heads, rounded faces and wide eyes from the children painted on the present jar. The theme of 'a hundred boys' became symbolic of progeny and fulfillment of Confucian ideals in education, and the advancement of sons. As such, this types of pictorial image was propagated on a wide range of decorative objects, including porcelain, jade, textile and lacquerware.
This 'hundred boys' pattern depicting the figures of boys in a larger format is seen on compressed ovoid jars such as the earlier Jiajing-marked examples, the first from the J.M. Hu Family and Jingguantang collections, sold at Christie's Hong Kong, 27 November 2007, lot 1738; and the other, also from the J.M. Hu Family collection, is now in the Tianminlou Foundation, illustrated in Chinese Porcelain, The S.C. Ko Tianminlou Collection, vol. 1, Hong Kong, 1987, pl. 35. Two jars of this same shape and design, both with a Jiajing reign mark, are known, the first was sold at Christie's London, 25 November 1974, lot 235; and the other is in the Shanghai Museum collection, illustrated by Lu Minghua, Mingdai Guanyao Ciqi, Shanghai renmen chubanshe, 2007, p. 156, no. 3-82. Jars of this pattern continued into the Wanli reign as can be seen by the present example.
The present jar is rare in that it presents the same theme, more complex in composition, with the figures in a smaller scale in a larger garden landscape. See a closely related blue and white 'boys' jar, measuring 29.2 cm., also bearing a Wanli mark, from a Japanese private collection, sold in Christie's Hong Kong, 27 May 2008, lot 1853.
As early as the Southern Song period, the imagery of boys at play, set in a garden scene became a favoured theme in paintings popularised by the Southern Song court artist, Su Hanchen, who was active during early 12th Century. An example of Su Hanchen's painting is in the National Palace Museum collection, Taipei, entitled 'Boys at Play in an Autumn Garden', illustrated in Zhongguo Huihua Quanji, vol. 3, Zhejiang renmin meishu chubanshe, p. 140, no. 100. The Southern Song depiction of children with characteristic shaven heads, rounded faces and wide eyes from the children painted on the present jar. The theme of 'a hundred boys' became symbolic of progeny and fulfillment of Confucian ideals in education, and the advancement of sons. As such, this types of pictorial image was propagated on a wide range of decorative objects, including porcelain, jade, textile and lacquerware.
This 'hundred boys' pattern depicting the figures of boys in a larger format is seen on compressed ovoid jars such as the earlier Jiajing-marked examples, the first from the J.M. Hu Family and Jingguantang collections, sold at Christie's Hong Kong, 27 November 2007, lot 1738; and the other, also from the J.M. Hu Family collection, is now in the Tianminlou Foundation, illustrated in Chinese Porcelain, The S.C. Ko Tianminlou Collection, vol. 1, Hong Kong, 1987, pl. 35. Two jars of this same shape and design, both with a Jiajing reign mark, are known, the first was sold at Christie's London, 25 November 1974, lot 235; and the other is in the Shanghai Museum collection, illustrated by Lu Minghua, Mingdai Guanyao Ciqi, Shanghai renmen chubanshe, 2007, p. 156, no. 3-82. Jars of this pattern continued into the Wanli reign as can be seen by the present example.
The present jar is rare in that it presents the same theme, more complex in composition, with the figures in a smaller scale in a larger garden landscape. See a closely related blue and white 'boys' jar, measuring 29.2 cm., also bearing a Wanli mark, from a Japanese private collection, sold in Christie's Hong Kong, 27 May 2008, lot 1853.