A PAIR OF CHINESE FAMILLE ROSE OVAL ‘GOING TO SCHOOL’ PLAQUES. Qing Dynasty, Qianlong period. Finely painted with scenes of European children, the first depicting a boy and a girl sent off by their mother with a worried look to join a larger group entering the school building, an elderly teacher greeting the arrivals, the second illustrating the children hurriedly leaving the classroom, hats and aprons off, their hair in disarray, each contained in a gilt frame. Both scenes after paintings by Thomas Stothard RA (1755 – 1834), later popularised by engravings by C. Knight, the prints included in the lot, 34cm long. (4) Literature: Cohen and Cohen, School’s Out, cat no 36, pp 42-43 Although the scenes depicted are known in export porcelain (the previous lot is an example), in the present lot is exceptional both in the quality of painting and colouration. The early 18th Century was a point of important change in the English education system and the time at which the great English public schools of Eton, Harrow, Winchester, Rugby and Westminster all began to flourish. The depiction of 'a hundred boys at play', representing the wish for many sons, was a popular theme in the decorative arts of the Ming and Qing dynasties. The 'hundred boys' refers to King Wen of the Zhou Dynasty who had ninety-nine sons and adopted one more to make one hundred. As the link between classical education and a prosperous family grew in the Ming period, luxury goods made for the literati increasingly portrayed boys and fertility symbols.  Perhaps by coincidence rather than design, the image of children imitating adults as in the image of the young couple holding hands, and engaged in intellectual pursuits, represents the wish for sons to achieve high intellectual status and preserve the literary prestige of the family. Other elements visual techniques in the painting have influenced Chinese painting. The image of the teacher emerging from behind a doorway is sometimes said to have influenced Chinese meiren painting in the Imperial court in the 18th Century. 清乾隆   粉彩繪外國童子圖紋瓷板兩幅 出版物：Cohen and Cohen, 《School’s Out》第36號，42-43頁。 *For a full condition report, please contact the department.* *请您联系我们索取品项报告。*