Twenty-two boys play games, ride hobbyhorses (a toy that may have been invented in China), and enjoy a large masonry slide in the corner of an imperial garden. Children at play was a popular subject among artists of the earlier Song Imperial Painting Academy. Judging from the costumes and representational techniques, this painting was most likely executed in the first years of the Ming dynasty, when the imperial court revived the styles and subjects of the academy.
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元末明初 佚名 絹本設色 嬰戯圖 軸
Title:Children playing in the palace garden
Artist:Unidentified artist Chinese, active late 13th–15th century
Period:Ming dynasty (1368–1644)
Date:late 14th–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
Object Number:1987.150
Inscription: No artist’s inscription, signature, or seal
[ Klaus F. Naumann , Tokyo, until 1987; sold to MMA]
New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "Text and Image: The Interaction of Painting, Poetry, and Calligraphy," January 23–August 16, 1999.
New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "The World of Scholars' Rocks: Gardens, Studios, and Paintings," February 1–August 20, 2000.
New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "Cultivated Landscapes: Reflections of Nature in Chinese Painting with Selections from the Collection of Marie-Hélène and Guy Weill," September 10, 2002–February 9, 2003.
New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "Art of the Brush: Chinese Painting and Calligraphy," March 12–August 14, 2005.
New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "The Four Seasons," January 28–August 13, 2006.
New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "Arts of the Ming Dynasty: China's Age of Brilliance," January 23–September 13, 2009.
New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "Chinese Gardens: Pavilions, Studios, Retreats," August 18, 2012–January 6, 2013.
New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "Children to Immortals: Figural Representations in Chinese Art," August 9, 2018–January 3, 2021.
Fong, Wen C. Beyond Representation: Chinese Painting and Calligraphy, 8th–14th Century. New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 1992, p. 296, pl. 64.
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