QING DYNASTY (1644-1911)

The depiction of a boy holding a lotus represents the wish for many descendants, and similar small jade figures were carved as early as the Song dynasty as seen from several examples illustrated in The Complete Collection of Treasures of the Palace Museum - 41 - Jadeware (II), Hong Kong, 1995, pls. 81-84. In these figures the legs are shown in a more naturalistic crossed position, as if the boy might be running. The same iconography continued into the Ming and Qing dynasties, and several Ming examples are illustrated in Jades of Tang through Qing Dynasties, Taipei, 2002, pls. 89, 90, 92 and 93.