荷叶童子Child on a Lotus Leaf

A fabric picture on a white paper ground. A small child lies on its stomach across a big lotus leaf, arms wrapped around a lotus stem that ends in a seed pod, feet kicked up in the air. The head, arms and legs are shaped from pink cloth stuffed with padding, round and full; the eyes and brows are drawn in ink and the lips touched with red. The hair is black cloth, with a ragged fringe and two topknots tied with red ribbon edged in gold. The child wears a red top bound in yellow satin and shorts of flowered print cotton. The leaf is green cloth with veins drawn in ink, and the seed pod has a green top dotted with black seeds over a tuft of yellow thread.

A child with lotus is a folk image for “may sons be born one after another,” since lian, lotus, sounds like “in succession”; the many-seeded pod adds a wish for many descendants. The picture has no title; this one describes it.

此为布艺贴画，白纸为地。一童子俯卧于荷叶之上，双手环抱荷茎，茎端垂一莲蓬，两足翘起，天真憨态，跃然而出。头面手足以肉粉色布塑出，内填棉絮，圆润饱满；眉目以墨线描画，唇点朱红；头梳双髻，黑布为发，额前碎发参差，髻上系红色金边丝带；身着红衣，黄缎滚边，下着碎花布短裤。荷叶以绿布剪成，叶脉以墨线勾勒；莲蓬绿顶墨点为子，下缀黄丝为蕊。

民间以童子与莲合绘，取“连生贵子”之意；莲蓬多子，亦寓子孙绵延。右上钤圆印，左下钤方印。此作未题画名，题目依画意拟定。