Art, literature & history
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
1845
- Dating
- Exact year
- Held at
- Art Institute of Chicago
- 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.)
- Collection no.
- 1958.778
- Attribution
- By the artist
- Image rights
- CC0 1.0License details
Honoré Daumier. 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. Art Institute of Chicago. CC0 1.0. Compressed full-frame reproduction.
Collection: Art Institute of Chicago
About this artwork
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 — Honoré Daumier. 1845.
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.).
Collection record: Art Institute of Chicago, Chicago. Museum connection according to this source; current display unverified.
Source: official collection record. Metadata selected and normalized by Artline from the source export, accessed 10 September 2026; no museum endorsement. Reproduction rights are separate.
Location checked Sep 10, 2026. This does not indicate whether the work is on display.