popular print BM-1991-1009-0.62

Period:Unknown Production date:1960-1991
Materials:paper
Technique:woodcut, colour,
Subjects:symbol child
Dimensions:Height: 37.80 centimetres (Imperial mount) Height: 53.60 centimetres (paper) Width: 39.10 centimetres (paper) Width: 34.50 centimetres

Description:
Popular print, one from a group of four showing children in auspicious scenes; boy with a fish-bowl; woodblock print; ink and colour on paper.
IMG


Comments:Plump, robust boys, emblematic of healthy sons, are common motifs in popular prints. This boy, in the right-hand print of a pair, plays with four fish. ‘Fish’ (yu 魚) sounds the same as the character for ‘plenty’ (yu 餘). Other motifs include two yellow peaches, symbolic of long life, and a peony, representing wealth and honour. On the boy’s bib is a lotus flower (lian 蓮), which has the same sound as the character for ‘continuous’ (lian 連). Together they express the wish for continuous births of sons, to carry on the family line and worship the ancestors. The background pattern is composed of swastikas, another form for the character for ‘10,000’ (wan 卐), a further indicator of wishes for extensive happiness.