A large blue and white 'boys' jar, Ming dynasty, Jiajing´s six characters mark and of the period (1522-1566).
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The large guan finely painted with a scene of boys in various activities, impersonating a high official flanked by adviser in audience and a kneeling subject, another riding a hobby horse and attendant carrying a lotus-leaf parasol, a group playing cards, and another riding a toy cart, all within a terraced garden. Diameter 38, height 30,5 cm.
Rim grounded, firing crack to base.
Provenance
Emil Hultmark´s Collection.
Exhibitions
Royal Academy, Stockholm 1942, no 382, plansch 26. Nationalmuseum, Stockholm, Chinese Exhibition 1928.
Literature
The Tsui Museum of Art, 1991, pl. 80. A jar from the Osaka museum without its cover is illustrated in Ming and Qing Ceramics of Art; another in the Museum of decorative Arts, Copenhagen, is illustrated by Lion-Goldschmidt in La Porcelaine Ming, a third in Chinese ceramics in the Idemitsu collection, and a fourth in the Jiangxi Fengchengxian Bowuguan is illustrated in Zhongguo Wenwu Jinghua Da Cidian, no 766, p. 393.
More information
The 'boys' theme was popular in Sothern Song paintings, particularly those of small children at play by the Academic painter, Su Hanchen. Them imagery was particularly pertinent in later periods since it was good augury for the emperor to produce male heirs.