I found a thread containing a number of cute paintings of children--if you like kids at all, you should find these adorable!


苏汉臣 蕉阴击球图页

"Hitting the Ball in the Shadow of the Banana Leaves", Su Hanchen




苏汉臣 冬日婴戏图轴

"Children Playing on a Winter Day", Su Hanchen




小庭婴戏图 宋人

"Children Playing in a Small Courtyard", Anonymous




秋庭婴戏图 宋人

"Children Playing in an Autumn Courtyard", Anonymous




扑枣图 宋人

"Assaulting the Date Tree", Anonymous




狸奴婴戏图. 宋人

"Pair of Cats and Baby at Play", Anonymous




蕉石婴戏图 宋人

"Children Playing by Banana Plants and Rocks", Anonymous




百子图 宋人

"One Hundred Children", Anonymous




苏汉臣　婴戏图

"Children at Play", Su Hanchen




苏汉臣　秋庭戏婴图

"Children at Play in an Autumn Courtyard", Su Hanchen



More to follow!

Awesome paintings. I'm so glad you've chosen a bunch from Su Hanchen; he's one of my favorite Chinese artists of all time. Here is one you don't have in the collection above; I've used it in a few wikipedia articles as it is from Wikimedia Commons:



Children playing, by Su Hanchen, c. 1150.

I love the furniture in this piece, and the flowers, and the gigantic rock sculpture...in fact, I love everything about this painting! Lol.

Eric (En Rui)

苏汉臣　货郎图

"The Knickknack Peddler", Su Hanchen (detail)




苏汉臣　货郎图2

"The Knickknack Peddler" (Full), Su Hanchen




苏汉臣　货郎图

"The Knickknack Peddler" (Another Version), Su Hanchen




苏汉臣　长春百子图

"One Hundred Children in the Long Spring", Su Hanchen




苏汉臣　长春百子图

"One Hundred Children in the Long Spring", Su Hanchen




苏焯　端阳戏婴

"端阳? Children Playing", Su Chao(?)




苏汉臣 秋庭婴戏图

"Children Playing in an Autumn Courtyard" (Detail), Su Hanchen




苏汉臣 货郎图轴

"The Knickknack Peddler", Su Hanchen




苏汉臣 百子嬉春图页

"One Hundred Children Playing in the Spring", Su Hanchen




刘松年 傀儡婴戏图轴

"A Children's Puppet Show", Liu Songnian



Still more to come!

李嵩　市担婴戏

"Taking the Children to Market", Li Song




李嵩 货郎图卷

"The Knickknack Peddler", Li Song




And here is the link to all the paintings on this thread posted above. Just scroll down past the first photos of the boy and his proud papa and you'll find them:

http://tieba.baidu.com/f?kz=298349703

Here is another scan of the painting by Li Song, called "Taking the Children to Market" above, here known by its more familiar name, "The Knickknack Peddler", along with some scans of details:














Here is the source:

http://depts.washington.edu/chinaciv/painting/4ptgdoms.htm

"Bathing the Infant", by Zhou Wenju of the Five Dynasties Period (907-960):

浴婴图 周文矩



The source: http://www.cnrr.cn/RRYS/YSHH/zgms/zgms36001.htm


Another painting by Su Hanchen, called "[One-Man] Children's Variety Show":

杂技戏孩图 苏汉臣



The source: http://www.cnrr.cn/RRYS/YSHH/zgms/zgms36002.htm


And finally, an anonymous Tang Dynasty painting from Astana, Xinjiang Province, called "Two Boys":

双童图



The source: http://www.cnrr.cn/RRYS/YSHH/zgms/zgms33003.htm

One more painting from the Song Dynasty. It has nothing to do with children but it is one of my favorite paintings and I'm not going to start a new topic for one painting.

It is by Li Tang (c.1050-1130) and is called "The Village Doctor":

村医图 李唐





Detail:



The Source: http://www.cnrr.cn/RRYS/YSHH/zgms/zgms36002.htm

Apparently the poor peasant is enduring a moxibustion treatment. He screams with pain as the moxa powder is lighted on his back. His son hides behind the man holding his arms. Even the doctor's assistant on the right cringes at the sight. The old man's wife doesn't seem so concerned, though...

Jake you have out done yourself again, those are wonderful pictures. Such a great source of information on a subject what we do not see very often..

Plus fireball and I were just discussing the bottomless pants Chinese children used to wear. You have provided us with some perfect examples of just such clothing...
smart women,,, Let the children play out side and you have a lot less laundry... I wonder if they asked the children to do their " business" in one area or if you had to have a pooper scooper with you at all times.

Ha Ha,

I have been in the same position as the wife in that picture more times then I could recount here. After a while you just get used to the procedures,,, the only one that really got me was when I watched my husband get his yearly bone-marrow biopsy.

As they pushed and twisted the 1/8th inch hollow needle into his hip bone like a tiny tool they use to get coring samples ,, I had to groan.
The funny thing is I had seen it done to him many times before without a reaction. That one was a bit too much for me.. He said it didn't really bother him so much.... until I groaned.,,

What a different side to Chinese history than is usually seen!

Kudos for these paintings!

I'm curious. Why are the children carrying weapons in one of them?

I have another question: why do children shave their head except for two or three spots? I've always thought it was considered unfilial to shave your head.

This is a detail showing a charming scene, including children, from the scroll "Admonitions of the Instructress to the Palace Ladies" (女使箴图), by Gu Kaizhi (顾恺之) of the Jin Dynasty (c. 344-406). The scans are poor quality, but the painting is a masterpiece.





Servants combing the hair of a very unhappy boy (the baby isn't too thrilled either):




Mom and Dad proudly look on:




The source: http://www.epochtimes.com/b5/5/3/27/n867698.htm

Sculptures of a boy and girl from the Maijishan Grottoes (麦积山石窟), Cave 123, near the city of Tianshui (天水), Gansu Province. They were carved during the Northern Wei (北魏) Dynasty. Note the hairstyles, perhaps reflective of the non-Han origins of this dynasty.








The source for the boy: http://www.diaosu.cn/Scholar/Discourse/200...8598EKE_16.html

And the girl: http://www.diaosu.cn/Scholar/Discourse/200...8598EKE_17.html

it is a common practice for children to have their hair shaved in this way, u still could find this hair style on the streets. However, this is just fit for little children who are no more than 6 years old. Teenages and adults were different. They should have their hair wrapped up and never cut them. If an adult shaved his head with only two spots left, he was not only unfilial, but barbaric.

see, this guy with only a triangle shape hair remained on his head



In the eyes of ancient Chinese, the Brazil soccer star Ronaldo is a typical barbarian.

An interesting thing is adults with shaved head was popular in the low area of Yangtze river and Japan.

So only little children can wear their hair that way. So you mean a 9-12 year old would have to wear his hair in the standard topknot?(or were there other hairstyles for children of that age to wear?) Would children automatically be disallowed to wear their hair like that when they turned 7 years old? Maybe their was some kind of formal ceremony(like the capping ceremony) that marked the ending of a child wearing his hair in that manner and starting to wear in the manner of adults. I have seen the triangle shaved hair look in some ancient Japanese drawings also. It was a Japanese child that had the hairstyle. I am guessing that the hair of ancient Japanese children were styles similarly. Then again, you said that the shaved head was popular in the Yangtze river area and Japan.

BTY, do you have any pics of the topknot hairstyle on kids that are too old for the shaved hairstyle but are not adults yet -(like 10-12 year olds)

Here is the pic of the Japanese child. It is a woodblock print



and here are a few pictures I found of ancient Chinese children that dont have the shaved head hairstyle. Has anyone else found anymore?







These are from TV series