Page 78 - Bonhams May 2022 Arrow Vases

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A RARE LARGE 'HUNDRED BOYS' KESI PANEL
Jiajing/Wanli
Exquisitely woven in polychrome silk, gold-wrapped thread and
peacock feather, depicting eighty-nine boys in small groups engaging
in a variety of activities in a garden setting filled with rocks, trees,
pavilion, bridge, pond, deer and crane, including playing qin, playing
chess, performing music as an ensemble, cricket fighting, kite flying,
rowing, fishing, drama playing, reading, wrestling, under a top section
depicted with a bright sun overhead in the centre, and another boy
riding a qilin and holding a sheng and a twig of osmanthus over
clouds. 173cm (68 1/8in) x 154cm (60 5/8in).

HKD500,000 - 600,000
US$64,000 - 77,000
明嘉靖/萬曆 緙絲百子圖掛帳

The 'hundred boys' refers to the story of King Wen, the father of Compare with a closely related kesi 'hundred boys' panel, Ming
the founder of the Zhou dynasty King Wu, representing the wish for dynasty, in the Beijing Art Museum, illustrated in Gems of Beijing:
many sons. In folklore, King Wen of Zhou had ninety-nine sons and Cultural Relics Series, Textiles, Beijing, 2001, pl.155. Compare
adopted one more, which made one hundred. It remains unknown also with a kesi panel, Ming dynasty, in the collection of Stephen
when this story emerged, however, the earliest visual art in this theme McGuinness, exhibited and illustrated in Chinese Textile Masterpieces.
to be believed is a painting on silk mounted as a rounded fan, 12th- Song, Yuan and Ming Dynasties, Plum Blossoms (Intl) Ltd, Hong
13th century, in the Cleveland Museum of Art, which is illustrated and Kong, 1988, no.13. See also a similar kesi 'hundred boys' panel, Ming
discussed by X.F.Wang in The Wedding of Princess: One Hundred dynasty, which was sold at Sotheby's Hong Kong, 6 April 2015, lot
Children at Play and the Pictures of Child in Southern Song Dynasty 3117.
, in Art Observation, November and December 2018, pp.108-114,
108-112. The games and arrangement of boys' groups on this panel
demonstrate a consistency within this theme, when compared with
examples during the Ming dynasty as can be seen in other media such
as porcelain and lacquer.

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