Knick-knack Peddler with New Year’s Goods

This painting features a peddler with two openwork carriers carried on a pole. One of them is square with a perched bird and a squirrel playing on it. The other carrier is octagonal and has a base, being similar in shape to a palace lantern. Inside it are all kinds of clay animal and human figurines along with various books, toys, and play weapons. Above him is an opulent parasol, hanging from the edges of which are embroidered balls, small palace lanterns, and figurine ornaments. A pair of children have come to get a closer look at all the things he has brought. Although this work is in the tradition of Su Hanchen, who was renowned for his paintings of children, the lines of the figures here are flatter than those of his other works.