Children at Play
1508
unspecified
From the collection of Cleveland Museum of Art
1508
unspecified
From the collection of Cleveland Museum of Art
Children at Play is a 1508 unspecified by Xia Kui, a Ming Painting work, held at Cleveland Museum of Art.
Sixteen kids scramble across a long scroll, climbing rocks, flying kites, and pretending to be scholars or soldiers. Some wear tiny crowns; one balances on a table like a god. This painting was made for New Year’s—it’s a wish for lots of healthy sons. The boy on the table mimics Kuixing, the god who helps students pass exams. The crowded scene feels like a noisy playground, not a quiet temple. If you like this, look up the subject *china, ming dynasty (1368–1644)*.
Sixteen children engage in scholarly, religious, and military activities, representing the popular “one hundred boys” theme expressing the wish for abundant, successful male offspring. Such paintings conveying auspicious wishes were often displayed during the New Year festival season. Two older boys wear small crowns with red tassels. Another child with a mask holds a brush in one hand, a rice measure in the other. He stands on a low table imitating Kuixing, the God of Examinations and servant to the God of Literature.
In the foreground on the right are three boys playing a kind of blind man’s bluff.
Read the full account in the museum source.
Xia Kui made ink paintings of daily life in 16th-century China. His handscroll Visiting Dai Kui on a Snowy Night shows scholars bundled against snow, while Children at Play captures kids tumbling in a courtyard. His…
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