‘BOYS AT PLAY AND CAT’, QING DYNASTY China, 1644-1912. Painted with ink and watercolors on paper. Depicting three boys, two holding fans and cheerfully looking and motioning toward two butterflies, the third about to pet a cat standing foursquare on the ground with a fine appearance and quizzical expression, a white-spotted deer to the left edge, all in a garden setting.

Provenance: Old French private estate.
Condition: A fragment, itself overall in good condition and well presenting with some wear, soiling, creasing, minor tears, and small losses. The frame with extensive wear, chips, and a crack.

Dimensions: Size incl. frame 45.4 x 39.6 cm, Image size 34.5 x 28.5 cm

Matted and framed. (2)

The homophone for monkey, hou, one of the twelve zodiac animals, is 'nobleman' or 'high official' as well as 'descendants'. The monkey therefore represents the wish for the success of one's descendants. There is also a homophone for butterfly (die) which means ‘to repeat’, so adding a butterfly to a scene repeats the wish of the other symbols.

Expert’s note: The 19^th century saw one of the most disruptive periods in the 5000-year history of China, which eventually led to the demise of the entire Qing Dynasty Empire. During these turbulent times, several important palaces and related buildings were set on fire, damaged and looted. Many palace paintings, much like the one pictured in fig. 1, were partly destroyed. Subsequently, fragments were removed and carelessly sold off into the West. A clear indicator that the present work is such a fragment and was originally part of a much larger painting is the fact that it has been executed in a workshare process. This can be seen within the uppermost figure, which has been painted above the background, with lines from the stairs below still visible. Naturally, employing such a process with multiple painters involved only makes sense for a large-scale painting. 清代《童子戲貓圖》
中國，1644-1912，紙本設色。三個男童，其中兩個手持扇子，興高采烈地撲蝶；第三個正要撫摸一隻四腿着地的貓，貓的表情生動卻又帶著點好奇。左側可見一隻梅花鹿，四周花園景觀。

來源：法國私人老收藏。
品相： 殘片，整體品相良好，裝裱方面有些磨損，污跡、摺皺、輕微水跡、小缺損。裝裱廣泛磨損、有碎屑和裂紋。

尺寸：帶框45.4 x 39.6 厘米，畫面 34.5 x 28.5 厘米
裝框