Model theatre

Jingdezhen, Jiangxi province
Qing dynasty, Kangxi period, about 1700–22

Plays were performed as entertainments at all levels of society. Some were acted out in villages, small market towns or local fairs, presented by low-ranking troupes of travelling actors.

Such plays took place during annual festivals such as local gods’ birthdays and attracted both people and business to the area.

Middle ranking troupes performed for rich clients in ancestral halls in the towns and toured village temples in the festival season. Top-ranking actors were permanently engaged by wealthy landowners in towns.

For the majority of the populace, plays were a key source of information about legends and history.

The heroic exploits of the Three Kingdoms generals and the comic stories of Monkey in ‘Journey to the West’ are familiar to millions of people who have not read the novels.

This early eighteenth century porcelain model theatre is extremely rare.