Children in Chinese Art (review)

Although much has been written on the importance of the family as a social institution in China, the family's presence in visual culture has until recently remained largely unexamined. Although several art historians, such as Wu Hung and Martin Powers, have examined the presence of children and the family in the arts of China,¹ by isolating a particular theme Children in Chinese Art expands our understanding of how and why children came to be a frequent subject for representation in almost every single artistic medium since at least the Song dynasty. This fine volume brings together scholarship on images from diverse historical periods and media, as well as different disciplinary perspectives, in order to explore the fundamental questions of how and why children became a popular subject in the visual arts in China. While its title implies an exclusive focus on images of children, the contents of the volume indeed demonstrate that an examination of children, childhood, and their depiction in Chinese culture cannot be separated from the family unit as a whole, since the primary function of the family in China was its continued existence through the production of sons. The essays necessarily move beyond the iconography of the child in works of art to include examinations of the ways in which images of children are related to the fundamental needs and concerns of Chinese families at various periods in Chinese history.

In their introduction to the volume, Ann Barrott Wicks and Ellen Avril outline the appearance of children in Chinese art chronologically, and within this discussion they give a brief overview of the contributors' essays. They state that the aims of the volume are to "(1) establish the study of child imagery as a viable pursuit in the field of Chinese art history, (2) begin to document the historical development of the iconography of the child in Chinese art, (3) explore multiple aspects of style and meaning through the analysis of specific works of art, and (4) make available to interested readers recent historical research of the art" (p. 2). In general, the essays that follow admirably achieve these goals.

As the introduction by Wicks and Avril makes clear, the period of transition between the late Tang and the Song dynasties saw a definite increase in the illustration of children in Chinese art. Not only the number but also the nature of the representations changed, as the next essay by Richard and Catherine Barnhart demonstrates. The Barnharts argue that images of children in painting and poetry reflect a new emphasis on the emotional ties between family members and "human feeling" more generally during this period. The examples of painting and poetry that they analyze illustrate the poignancy of private family feeling toward children, especially by parents or other older relatives. In the realism of the art of the Song period, the mundane moments of particular individuals or the unique human qualities of children are captured. This exceptional emphasis in Song art on humanity and the depiction of children as individuals at a particular stage of life is underscored by all of the later essays in the volume.

While children continue to appear in the visual arts after the Song, and the range of children's activities and games that are depicted on clothing, bedding, ceramics, and lacquerware expands, in her study of the one-hundred-children theme, Teresa Tse Bartholomew shows that the nature of their representation becomes more limited. Instead of individualized expression and complex physical interactions, images of boys playing reinforce in very particular ways not just the wish for numerous male progeny, but specifically the desire for guizi, or noble sons, who will be successful and carry on family power and prestige into future generations. Bartholomew provides a very thorough discussion of how specific games convey messages concerning fecundity, passing the civil service examination with high honors, and more general wishes for good fortune. Her deciphering of the motifs present on a wide...