One hundred boys playing

Object Details

• Artist

  Yamawaki Toki (1777-1839)

• Label

  Yamawaki Toki, a pupil of Matsumura Goshun (1752-1811), shared his master's delight in comic and quirky figural representation. Here, Toki arranges his procession of children on a long, horizontal format in clusters and in confident singular poses, such as the child flying a kite in the opening passage. The children are arranged in a seasonal chronology of various feast days and holidays, but in a wider sense this painting is a masterful exercise in brushwork and composition.

  Chinese themes were often depicted by Edo period Japanese artists. The theme of "one hundred children" represents the wish for multiple progeny and the resultant success, familial continuity, and social stability. Some suggest the theme also expresses the Chinese longing for a golden era barely in historical memory, but idealized as a period marked by widespread prosperity and civil accord.

• Collection

  Freer Gallery of Art Collection

• Exhibition History

  Japanese Arts in the Edo Period: 1615-1868, part 1 (August 18, 2007 to February 24, 2008)

  Telling Tales in Japanese Art (November 23, 1996 to August 14, 1997)

• Origin

  Japan

• Credit Line

  Purchase — Charles Lang Freer Endowment

• Type

  Painting

• Restrictions and Rights

  Usage Conditions Apply

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  collections.si.edu

• Date

  1700s, 1710s, 1720s, 1770s, 1780s, 1790s, 1730s, 1740s, 1750s, 1760s, 1800s, 1810s, 1820s, 1830s, 1610s, 1650s, 1640s, 1630s, 1620s, 1690s, 1840s, 1680s, 1850s, 1670s, 1860s, 1660s

• Name

  Yamawaki, Toki

• Place

  Japan

• Topic

  Art, Playing, Edo period, Japan, (1600 - 1868), Men, Japanese Art

• Culture

  Japanese

• Object Type

  Paintings