Children Playing in the Snow at the New Year

Object Details

• Label

  The most significant and joyous of all festivals in China is the Lunar New Year, which falls on the first day of the first new moon of the year (generally in late January or February). This festival painting is not intended to be realistic, rather it depicts an imaginary scene filled with wishes for a happy New Year.

  In the foreground, boys make a snow lion; two of the older ones wear peacock feathers in their caps, an allusion to becoming high officials since peacock feathers were bestowed by the emperor as a high honor. In the midground, a boy ignites a red firecracker, which is an essential element of the New Year festivities, said to frighten away evil spirits; the sulphur released was also believed to stop the spread of epidemics. Other boys make clamoring noises with drums and cymbals to scare off evil and ensure harmony during the incoming year. On the back veranda, three boys huddle around a jar trying to capture five bats as an emblem of vast fortune. The symbolism derives from puns on the word red, which sounds like "vast," and the word for bat, which sounds like "good fortune."

  The work is unsigned. It is most likely a workshop painting made as a festival decoration.

• Collection

  National Museum of Asian Art Collection

• Exhibition History

  The Arts of China (November 18, 1990 to September 7, 2014)

• Origin

  China

• Credit Line

  Gift of Mrs. Douglas Woods Sprunt in Memory of Rear Admiral and Mrs. Edgar L. Woods

• Type

  Painting

• Restrictions and Rights

  Usage Conditions Apply

  There are restrictions for re-using this media. For more information, visit the Smithsonian's Terms of Use page.

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Keep Exploring

• Related Resources

  collections.si.edu

• Date

  1800s, 1900s

• Place

  China

• Topic

  New year, Art, Playing, Snow, Chinese Art, Qing dynasty (1644 - 1911), Children

• Culture

  Chinese

• Object Type

  Paintings