Children Playing in the Palace Garden
Unidentified
Artist
Period:
late
Yuan (1271–1368)–early Ming (1368–1644) dynasty
Date:
late
13th–15th century
Culture:
China
Medium:
Hanging
scroll; ink and color on silk
Dimensions:
Image:
54 7/8 x 30 in. (139.4 x 76.2 cm) Overall with mounting: 113 1/2 x 36 1/2 in.
(288.3 x 92.7 cm) Overall with knobs: 113 1/2 x 39 in. (288.3 x 99.1 cm)
Classification:
Paintings
Credit
Line:
Purchase,
The Dillon Fund Gift, 1987
Accession
Number:
1987.150
Children at play was a popular subject among artists of
the Song Imperial Painting Academy. In this example, twenty-two boys play
games, ride hobbyhorses, and enjoy a large masonry slide in a corner of the
imperial garden.
The subject matter, costumes, and representational techniques of this scroll derive from works by the Song court painter Su Hanchen (active first half of the 12th century), while the almost naive visualization of the pavilion and the dramatically tilted ground plane reflect the manipulation of forms in space found in the works of Qian Xuan (ca. 1235–before 1307). While a Yuan-dynasty date cannot be ruled out, this painting was most likely executed in the early years of the Ming dynasty, when the Ming court revived the styles and subjects of the Song Imperial Painting Academy. One of the boys is wearing what may be a coat with a rank badge, a device introduced into court costumes by the first Ming emperor (r. 1368–98), which would corroborate this dating.
The subject matter, costumes, and representational techniques of this scroll derive from works by the Song court painter Su Hanchen (active first half of the 12th century), while the almost naive visualization of the pavilion and the dramatically tilted ground plane reflect the manipulation of forms in space found in the works of Qian Xuan (ca. 1235–before 1307). While a Yuan-dynasty date cannot be ruled out, this painting was most likely executed in the early years of the Ming dynasty, when the Ming court revived the styles and subjects of the Song Imperial Painting Academy. One of the boys is wearing what may be a coat with a rank badge, a device introduced into court costumes by the first Ming emperor (r. 1368–98), which would corroborate this dating.
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