明萬曆 青花嬰戲圖盤 雙圈六字楷書款7 in.(17.8 cm.) diam.
倫敦Ben Janssens Oriental Art, 2002年3月20日 瑞士艾爾伯?梵達倫及莉奧妮?梵達倫伉儷珍藏
The depiction of children at play is a visually pleasing, auspicious subject matter that was popular in Chinese art during the Ming dynasty. The subject has its roots in Buddhist beliefs, influenced by Daoism, but by the Tang dynasty (AD 618-907) had become a secular theme associated with the auspicious wish for sons and grandsons. One boy is depicted holding a lotus stem and this may be a rebus or visual pun. The word for lotus in Chinese is lian which is a homophone for a word meaning continuous or successive, and when combined with a boy suggests the successive birth of sons and grandsons. Another Chinese word for lotus is pronounced he, which sounds like the word for harmony, suggesting that there will be harmony among the sons and grandsons.