南宋 庭園嬰戯圖銀盤|Dish with children playing in a garden
Unknown
13th century · Silver with repoussé decoration and gilding · Asian Art
The theme of children at play, which expresses a wish for the birth of children and the concomitant joys they engender, is a ubiquitous motif in Chinese decorative arts from as early as the tenth century. Some of the figures seen on this dish—for example, the two boys at left, one riding a hobbyhorse and the other holding a lotus leaf—are a stock figural grouping, appearing on art objects until the seventeenth century. The cluster of leafy palms with rocks and the balustrade enclosing a lotus pond are standard features of Chinese garden designs.
- Artist
- Unknown
- Date
- 13th century
- Medium
- Silver with repoussé decoration and gilding
- Culture
- China
- Department
- Asian Art
- Credit line
- Purchase, Florence and Herbert Irving Gift, in honor of Brooke Astor's one-hundredth birthday, 2002
