Twelve-leaf Coromandel lacquer screen with "Hundred Children" décor, China, 18th century The central scene, known as the "Hundred Children" décor, depicts the inner gardens of a palace, with numerous children engaged in a variety of activities, illustrating an exhaustive range of games and occupations for Chinese toddlers in the Qing period. Thirty-two square reserves alternate around the central stage. Sixteen of these are calligraphies in various styles of script (zhuanshu: sigillary characters, hsinshu: semi-cursive, tsao shu: cursive, lishu: official script) illustrating poems. Eight reserves are decorated with flowers and birds, and eight others with landscapes. The back of the screen is lacquered black and gold without decoration. 252 x 624 cm (leaf width: 52 cm) A few chips and cracks in the lacquer. There is no doubt that the subject of this screen was inspired by the Song-period painter Su Hanchen - 蘇漢臣, one of whose favorite subjects was baizi paintings - 百子 - "one hundred children". Indeed, some of the scenes from the screen can be found in several of his paintings, such as the lion dance, the qin player or children playing cuju, a game of foot ball.