Lot 3117. A rare large 'Hundred Boys' kesi panel, Late Ming dynasty; 222 by 183 cm., 87 1/2  by 72 in. Estimate 600,000 — 800,000 HKD. Lot sold 1,250,000 HKD (161,250 USD). © Sotheby's

woven with great attention to detail in polychrome silk and gold-wrapped thread, to depict the auspicious 'hundred boys' motif with the boys portrayed in small groups engaging in a variety of activities, including music making, art appreciation, kite flying, football, rowing, reading and cricket fighting, all in a garden setting filled with rockery, trees and pavilions, with a bright sun overhead and a qilin delivering another worthy son, all between a panel centered by a solar disc and peony flanked by ribbon-tied precious objects, phoenix and clouds above, and a rocky ridge below.

Provenance: An English private collection.
Sotheby’s London, 12th July 2006, lot 59.

Note: Kesi panels finely embroidered with the auspicious motif of playful children in various pursuits were used as bed hangings in matrimonial chambers. The baizi (‘hundred boys’) motif refers to the sons of King Wen, the legendary father of the founder of the Zhou dynasty King Wu, who had ninety-nine sons and adopted one more to make one hundred. By the Ming dynasty, the motif came to represent the wish for many sons, and was reproduced on a variety of media, including porcelain and lacquer.

Two similar embroidered panels were sold in our New York rooms, the first, from the Mary Porter Walsh collection, sold on 28th November 1994, lot 170; the second, sold on 17th September 2013, lot 215, and included in the exhibition Threads of Imagination: Central Asian and Chinese Silks from the 12th to the 19th Century, Spink & Son Ltd., London, 1999, cat. no. 21. Compare also a kesi hanging from the collection of Stephen McGuinness, included in the exhibition Chinese Textile Masterpieces. Song, Yuan & Ming Dynasties, Plum Blossoms (Intl) Ltd, Hong Kong, 1988, cat. no. 13. See also a silk curtain decorated with this motif, included in the exhibition Imperial Treasures From China, National Gallery of Greece, Athens, 2004, cat. no. 67. 

Sotheby's. Imperial Porcelain and Works of Art from a Hong Kong Private Collection, Hong Kong, 07 april 2015