Private Life

In Song times, domestic life became an increasingly frequent subject not only for poetry and drama but for paintings as well. Under-represented in official written records, the lives and customs of people of all classes, were depicted in great detail in the visual arts. Women and children in particular became a focus for several academy artists who specialized in these genres. In this section we will look at paintings portraying people in the private sphere of family and friends. In many cases, the artists' sensitive treatment of personality and character, as well as careful attention to, say, the material distinctions between fine, elegant robes and the coarse textures of peasants' everyday clothing, gives useful data about how social class and status were expressed visually and the dynamics of social interactions.

Paintings of children were popular at court and became a specialty of a handful of artists. This subject matter was considered auspicious, and was a favorite theme for New Year's pictures given as gifts.

Why do you think these paintings would have been considered auspicious?

Do you think these children are all engaged in typical play activities?

Anonymous Song artist, One Hundred Children Celebrating Spring

SOURCE: Zheng Zhenze, Zhang Hang, and Xu Bangda, Songren hua ce (Beijing: Zhongguo gudian meishu chubanshe, 1959), pl. 85. Collection of the National Palace Museum, Beijing. Album leaf, ink and colors on silk. No dimensions given.

ANSWER: The "one hundred children" theme paintings were considered auspicious because more children meant a flourishing family. The number one hundred is taken metaphorically to mean "innumerable," although many artists took pride in their ability to depict the full complement of subjects. In the One Hundred Children Playing painting, the children, all boys, are shown engaged in a wide range of pursuits, from those typical of childhood, such as flying kites and sliding down a stairway railing, to activities meant to emulate the adult males around them - playing the zither, writing poetry, and enacting a ritual washing of the Buddha.

Below is another example of this theme, but without the attempt to portray a full hundred children.

Su Hanchen, attrib. (active 1130s-1160s), Children Playing in a Palace Garden

SOURCE: Su Hanchen, attrib. (active 1130s-1160s), Children Playing in a Palace Garden in Wen C. Fong, Beyond Representation: Chinese Painting and Calligraphy, 8th - 14th Centuries (New York: Metropolitan Museum of Art, 1992), pl. 64, p. 296. Collection of the Metropolitan Museum of Art. Hanging scroll, ink and colors on silk, 139.3 x 76 cm.

Compare the following views of children. Click below to see the full painting:

Full Image [In the guide, below] Are these children wearing their everyday clothes?	Full Image [In the guide, below] What do you think these boys are playing with?	Full Image [In the guide, below] What can you infer about family structure and expectations of gender roles from this image?

The peacock feather banner the children are playing with is like the one used in dramas to signal a general or leader of troops.
Where do you think this scene might be taking place?

Do you think these children are dressed in their everyday clothes?

Scholars believe this painting, nearly six and a half feet tall, may have been one of a pair or a set of similarly themed works originally hung in the royal apartments.

Why do you think this might have been considered an appropriate location for this type of work?

Su Hanchen (active 1130s-1160s), Winter Play

SOURCE: Wen C. Fong and James C.Y. Watt, Possessing the Past: Treasures from the National Palace Museum, Taipei (New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 1996), plate 81, p. 175. Collection of the National Palace Museum, Taipei. Hanging scroll, ink and colors on silk, 196.2 x 107.1 cm

ANSWER: Paintings of this scale necessarily belonged in upscale architectural settings like those of the grand homes of the aristocracy or the royal family. Its decorative qualities and pleasing motif, related to that of the "One Hundred Children" theme concerning domestic prosperity through longevity of the family line, was considered especially appropriate for the private spaces of the inner quarters of the imperial palace.

Below is another painting of children by a Song dynasty artist.

What kinds of goods and services does this peddler offer? Where do you think the majority of his clients and customers live?

Li Song (active 1130s-1230s), The Knickknack Peddler

SOURCE: Qin Xiaoyi, ed., Songdai shuhua ceye mingpin tezhan, Famous Album Leaves of the Sung Dynasty (Taipei: Guoli Gugong bowuyuan bianji, 1995), pl. 47, p. 177. Collection of the National Palace Museum, Taipei. Album leaf, ink and colors on silk, 25.8 x 27.6 cm

For a closer view of some details... [In the guide, below]

Below is a closer view of some details from the album leaf painting, The Knickknack Peddler.

Do you think this is the mother of the children? What do you think are the relative ages of the children represented?

Is there anything in the appearance or behavior of the children that helps you identify their social class?

SOURCE: Qin Xiaoyi, ed., Songdai shuhua ceye mingpin tezhan, Famous Album Leaves of the Sung Dynasty (Taipei: Guoli Gugong bowuyuan bianji weiyuanhui, 1995), pl. 47a, p. 178. Collection of the National Palace Museum, Taipei. Album leaf, ink and light colors on silk, 25.8 x 27.6 cm.

HINT: Compare below the representation of children in The Knickknack Peddler to those in Palace Children Playing. Do the children seem to have more in common than they have distinguishing traits (both in terms of physical appearance and behavior)? Could you switch children between the two paintings? Why or why not? If you are struck by the differences, do you think that the painter is depicting people in stereotyped terms, or do you think he is accurately representing class differences?

Below is a detail of the basket on the left hand side of the painting.

Can you determine by examining the goods that the peddler carries in stock who might be his most frequent customers?

Of the objects that you can identify, do the majority seem to be of a certain type or function?

SOURCE: LQin Xiaoyi, ed., Songdai shuhua ceye mingpin tezhan, Famous Album Leaves of the Sung Dynasty (Taipei: Guoli Gugong bowuyuan bianji weiyuanhui, 1995), pl. 47b, p. 178. Collection of the National Palace Museum, Taipei. Album leaf, ink and light colors on silk, 25.8 x 27.6 cm

Aside from selling toys and small household items, itinerant merchants also offered professional services.
How do you think these peddlers would have made these services known to potential customers?

A sign at the bottom of the basket on the right (detail seen below), for instance, advertises this peddler's proficiency at doctoring cattle, horses, and small children (in that order).

Note the necklaces the peddler is wearing around his neck; these advertise special skills as well.

What services do you think these represent?

SOURCE: Qin Xiaoyi, ed., Songdai shuhua ceye mingpin tezhan, Famous Album Leaves of the Sung Dynasty (Taipei: Guoli Gugong bowuyuan bianji weiyuanhui, 1995), pl. 47c, p. 179. Collection of the National Palace Museum, Taipei. Album leaf, ink and light colors on silk, 25.8 x 27.6 cm

ANSWER: The peddler wears two strings of advertisements around his neck; one, with images of eyes painted on disks, proclaims his expertise as an eye doctor, while the other necklace, strung with teeth, indicates that he provides dental services.

When women appear in official records in China, very little about their everyday lives, habits, and appearance is mentioned, so the abundance of paintings of women that lived during the Song and Yuan dynasties is of special interest to historians.

Often painters portrayed upper class subjects larger than their servants. Performers at banquets were more likely to be professional musicians than the guests themselves.

What differences in status are evident among the women? Can you tell who might be host, guest, and servant or entertainer in this painting?

Anonymous Northern Song artist, Palace Concert

SOURCE: Fu Xinian, ed., Zhongguo meishu quanji huihua bian 3: Liang Song huihua, shang (Beijing: Wenwu chubanshe, 1988), pl. 13, p. 18. Collection of the National Palace Museum, Taipei. Hanging scroll, ink and colors on silk, 48.5 x 70 cm

ANSWER: The woman most reserved in behavior and upright in posture, seated at the middle of the left hand side of the table, is the empress (we also know this from the type of headdress she is wearing); her guests are seated around the table, in varying stages of inebriation. The musicians are probably paid performers and not guests, and the smaller figure, shown at the front left corner of the table propping up a tipsy court lady, is a servant.

Despite having prolonged conflict with their neighbors to the north, the Chinese included studies of nomadic life among the subjects they painted.
Why do you think these women have their faces covered?

Anonymous Five Dynasties artist, Nomadic Horsemen (detail)

SOURCE: Jin Weinuo, ed., Zhongguo meishu quanji, huihua bian 2: Sui Tang Wudai huihua (Beijing: Wenwu chubanshe, 1984), pl. 56, p. 111. Collection of the National Palace Museum-Beijing. Detail of handscroll, ink and colors on silk, 26.2 x 143.5 cm.

Funerary art, like this painting from the wall of a tomb, naturally idealizes its subject.

What do you think is idealized here?

Couple with Banquet Attendants, wall painting from 1099 tomb

SOURCE: Su Bai, ed., Zhongguo meishu quanji huihua pian 12: Mushi bihua (Beijing: Wenwu chubanshe, 1984), pl. 137, p. 135. Mural on west wall of tomb, Baisha Town, Yu County, Henan province. Approx. 90 cm h. x 135 cm w.

MORE: [In the guide, below]

The tomb mural just seen was from Henan province. The one to the right was from a part of Hebei province then controlled by the Khitan Liao dynasty.
Can you infer anything about Khitan attitudes toward Chinese material culture or art from this tomb mural?

Servants Preparing to Carry in Food

SOURCE: Servants Carrying in Food (mural, Zhang Shiqing tomb, 1116), in Su Bai, ed., Zhongguo meishu quanji, huihua pian 12: Mushi bihua (Beijing: Wenwu chubanshe, 1989), pl. 171, p. 169. Mural to left of doorway, south wall, Tomb of Zhang Shiqing, Xiaba hamlet, Xuanhua County, Hebei province. Approx. 180 cm h. x 310 cm w.