Cleveland Museum of Art

One Hundred Children at Play

Su Hanchen

Date

1100s–1200s

Medium

Album leaf; ink and color on silk

Culture

China, Southern Song dynasty (1127-1279)

Department

Chinese Art

Institution

Cleveland Museum of Art

Paintings on the “one hundred children” theme usually have numerous, if not exactly 100, children. A majority of the children here imitate the dress, manners, and activities of the adult world. Whatever the exact significance of the subject, the painter of this album leaf clearly intended it to be savored figure by figure. With seemingly inexhaustible invention, the artist characterized each performer in the colorful pageant with unique accoutrements and action. The avoidance of overlapping allows each figure to be seen in clear detail, while all the figures are organized into a coherent composition. Garden settings with decorative rocks, blossoming shrubs, graceful willows, and lotus ponds had become fairly standard environments for late 12th- to 13th-century scenes of palace ladies as well as of playing children. Following a baby’s birth, ceremonies and festivities traditionally marked the baby’s successive attainment of thirty days, one hundred days, and one year in age. “One hundred children” paintings such as this album leaf would have been suitable for presentation on either of the latter occasions.

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