New Year's Day. The Chinese, following an old and respectable tradition invented by a confectioner, never fail to begin the year by offering to all their acquaintances chestnuts and other small presents. They kiss each other with pursed lips, but would rather tear each other apart. On this memorable day in Beijing alone 300'000 kilos of sweets and 200'000 kilos of gingerbread will be devoured. No wonder that on January 2nd all the little Chinese have a colic. But who cares.... next year they'll be again filled up with the same colic enhancing stuff always under the pretext of "traditional duty", plate 25 from Voyage En Chine

Q: Is "New Year's Day. The Chinese, following an old and respectable tradition invented by a confectioner, never fail to begin the year by offering to all their acquaintances chestnuts and other small presents. They kiss each other with pursed lips, but would rather tear each other apart. On this memorable day in Beijing alone 300'000 kilos of sweets and 200'000 kilos of gingerbread will be devoured. No wonder that on January 2nd all the little Chinese have a colic. But who cares.... next year they'll be again filled up with the same colic enhancing stuff always under the pretext of "traditional duty", plate 25 from Voyage En Chine" in the public domain?

Yes, New Year's Day. The Chinese, following an old and respectable tradition invented by a confectioner, never fail to begin the year by offering to all their acquaintances chestnuts and other small presents. They kiss each other with pursed lips, but would rather tear each other apart. On this memorable day in Beijing alone 300'000 kilos of sweets and 200'000 kilos of gingerbread will be devoured. No wonder that on January 2nd all the little Chinese have a colic. But who cares.... next year they'll be again filled up with the same colic enhancing stuff always under the pretext of "traditional duty", plate 25 from Voyage En Chine is in the public domain and available for free download under CC0 license.

Honoré-Victorin Daumier

1845

New Year's Day. The Chinese, following an old and respectable tradition invented by a confectioner, never fail to begin the year by offering to all their acquaintances chestnuts and other small presents. They kiss each other with pursed lips, but would rather tear each other apart. On this memorable day in Beijing alone 300'000 kilos of sweets and 200'000 kilos of gingerbread will be devoured. No wonder that on January 2nd all the little Chinese have a colic. But who cares.... next year they'll be again filled up with the same colic enhancing stuff always under the pretext of "traditional duty", plate 25 from Voyage En Chine by Honoré-Victorin Daumier

Medium

Lithograph in black on white wove paper

Dimensions

Image: 17.4 × 23.3 cm (6 7/8 × 9 3/16 in.); Sheet: 26.5 × 33.9 cm (10 7/16 × 13 3/8 in.)

Classification

lithograph

Department

Prints and Drawings

Museum

Art Institute of Chicago

Accession Number

86439

About the Artist

Honoré-Victorin Daumier · 1808–1879

Honoré-Victorin Daumier (1808-1879) was a prolific French printmaker, caricaturist, painter, and sculptor whose works offered incisive commentary on the social and political life of 19th-century France. Known as the 'Michelangelo of Caricature,' Daumier produced over 4,000 lithographs, 500 paintings, 1,000 drawings, and 100 sculptures during his lifetime. His biting political satire led to his imp...

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