JIAQING IRON-RED SIX-CHARACTER SEAL MARK AND OF THE PERIOD (1796-1820)

The subject of boys at play was very popular during the Ming and Qing dynasties, and represents the wish for abundant offspring, or in particular, sons, and wealth. This type of decoration is usually arranged as a continuous frieze with the boys in a garden setting, as on this unusual small lobed jar. For a bowl with Jiaqing mark decorated with this theme see Zhongguo taoci daxi; Qingdai taoci daquan (Chinese Ceramic Series; Qing Dynasty Ceramics), Taipei, 1987-89, p. 352. A similar delicate style of painting can also be seen on a Jiaqing-marked famille rose armrest painted with a boy bringing books to a scholar seated beneath a pine tree, illustrated by H.A. Van Oort, Chinese Porcelain of the 19th and 20th centuries, The Netherlands, 1977, p. 22, pl. 10.