How can one find true happiness? This book, suitable for children 5+, tells the story of one little boy’s search for happiness, more than 350 years after he was painted on a Chinese jar. Imprisoned in sadness by a slip of the painter’s brush, Kang is suddenly set free by a museum curator’s wish. He sets out on a voyage, his only guide his wise blue-and-white hobby horse. He is joined on the way by Dragon, Lion Dog, Elephant, the Mandarin Ducks and Feng Huang, also released from the dishes and vases on which they have been painted, who each bring their own special attributes. Together they journey through Chinese cultural history, entering into the scenes depicted on objects throughout the museum, helping farmers, warriors and governors. The characters he meets, and what he learns along the way, help him to realize eventually that sometimes happiness is to be found where you least expect it…
The illustration of this book uses the rich and colourful decoration of Chinese porcelain to bring alive the symbolism of animals in decorative art. Capturing children’s imagination with lively characters taken from real objects in the collection of the Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam, and Princessehof Ceramic Museum, Leeuwarden, the story gives an introduction to both the symbolism of Chinese art and aspects of material culture in China during the 16th, 17th and 18th centuries. Children will be inspired to really look at works of applied art, objects rarely made accessible for a young audience. The book is currently on display and being used for educational purposes in the exhibition 10,000x Happiness! at the Princessehof. The book also serves as a cultural link to enable children to feel akin to our hero, despite his different time and culture: his hobby horse is still a popular toy every child will recognize. The playfully educative nature of the book and its rich and original illustrations make it eminently suitable both for enjoyment at home and as part of an educative programme in schools, libraries or cultural centres.
by Harriet Impey and Katie Pickwoad
Hardback 24x24cm,
26 full-colour illustrated pages
€19.95/£17.95 inc. VAT
ABOUT THE BOOK
