Unknown
A Woman Playing with a Yo-yocirca 1775

Not on view

Artist or Maker: Unknown
Title: A Woman Playing with a Yo-yo
Place Made: India, Rajasthan, Kota
Date Made: circa 1775
Medium: Ink and traces of opaque watercolor on paper
Dimensions: 5 1/2 x 3 5/8 in. (13.97 x 9.2 cm)
Credit Line: Gift of Paul F. Walter
Accession Number: M.79.191.6
Classification: Drawings
Collecting Area: South and Southeast Asian Art
Curatorial Notes: Yo-yos are believed to have been first invented in ancient China by 1000 BCE. A boy playing with a yo-yo is documented in Greek vase painting by 500 BCE and Greek earthenware and bronze examples are extant. Yo-yos were the rage in England and France in the 1700s. They entered India by around the same time, with a depictions on a carved Indian ivory plaque from Madurai attributed to the 17th century (see M.80.232.6), and numerous painted representations surviving from the 18th century, such as this LACMA drawing and representative paintings in the Brooklyn Museum (80.268.1) and British Museum, London (1948,1009,0.139).

Here, a woman is playing with a large yo-yo that is spinning in place at the end of its long string in a maneuver called "sleeping." Scrawls in black ink and red undertone are along the left edge.

Not on view

Artist or Maker: Unknown
Title: A Woman Playing with a Yo-yo
Place Made: India, Rajasthan, Kota
Date Made: circa 1775
Medium: Ink and traces of opaque watercolor on paper
Dimensions: 5 1/2 x 3 5/8 in. (13.97 x 9.2 cm)
Credit Line: Gift of Paul F. Walter
Accession Number: M.79.191.6
Classification: Drawings
Collecting Area: South and Southeast Asian Art
Curatorial Notes: Yo-yos are believed to have been first invented in ancient China by 1000 BCE. A boy playing with a yo-yo is documented in Greek vase painting by 500 BCE and Greek earthenware and bronze examples are extant. Yo-yos were the rage in England and France in the 1700s. They entered India by around the same time, with a depictions on a carved Indian ivory plaque from Madurai attributed to the 17th century (see M.80.232.6), and numerous painted representations surviving from the 18th century, such as this LACMA drawing and representative paintings in the Brooklyn Museum (80.268.1) and British Museum, London (1948,1009,0.139).

Here, a woman is playing with a large yo-yo that is spinning in place at the end of its long string in a maneuver called "sleeping." Scrawls in black ink and red undertone are along the left edge.