Large Yin Yang Fish Wall Scroll
Almost 5 feet long!
I wanted to do a larger yin yang fish scroll, but the first experiments were too big and too expensive.
Postage alone was $20 each just to ship them to our gallery in the USA.
So we downsized the plan a little, to the maximum size that we could export from China for a reasonable cost.
The result is a stunning wall scroll that will fill up your wall, be the show-piece of your home, and not empty your wallet (or mine).
The painting in this wall scroll represents the balance in life known as "Yin Yang" in the Asian world.
In traditional Chinese culture, people believe that
everything has balance...
| Male | Female |
| Good | Evil |
| Light | Dark |
| Sun | Moon |
| Heaven | Hell |
| Husband | Wife |
Please note that the paper used in this artwork is handmade. It's actually made to look old, and has been dyed with tea. You will see some fibers or husks embedded in the paper in various places, as well as minor color variation. This is not a defect, but rather proof of the handmade nature, and something that adds to the classic and traditional look of this wall scroll.
These fish are associated strongly with both Japanese and Chinese cultures. Beautiful garden parks in the cities around China are often graced with a pond full of these fish throughout the year. They are a very strong fish as they can be seen swimming slowly under thick sheets of ice in lakes during the brutal Winter of northern China.
Also, in Mandarin Chinese, "fish" is pronounced "Yu" which is the same pronunciation as the word meaning "wealth" or "being rich". So many Chinese people believe that having a painting of fish in your home will bring you wealth and riches.
Materials used are black and red Chinese ink on rice paper. The painting
was then mounted to a hand-made silk wall scroll by our master-scroll-maker.
The artist's name is "Yu Gong-Quan" but his pen name is "Mao Zhi".
Yu Gong-Quan was born in Shanghai in 1941.
He studied art for many years in Anhui Province. After perfecting his skills he started his career as an artist.
For the last 30 years of his life, he has continued to develop his unique style.
He is currently a professor of art at an institute in Beijing, China.
Wanna buy a goldfish?
Do it South-China-style from the back of a tricycle...
I travel all over China, and often see interesting things. Of course, some of these things are part normal everyday life in China's eastern culture, but might be very different from what you'll see in western cultures.
If you want to buy a goldfish or baby koi fish in Nanjing, this is where you will end up.
Of course, in China, you can buy a lot of things from the back of big tricycles. Everything from fruits and vegetables to cakes, candy, and even heating coal.
These tricycles are actually totally mobile stores, and can be found on different street corners every day.
I think it's brilliant, because once you've sold your goods to everyone in a neighborhood, you simply pedal your tricycle a few blocks away, and see how sales go there.
Of course, many of these entrepreneurs are not actually licensed businesses in China. So when the police come by, the tricycle retailer becomes a tricycle transporter, and zips down the street looking for
a police-free area.
In Nanjing, all of these tricycle-goldfish-retailers seem to wear the same uniform, of a black leather jacket, black slacks and running shoes.
Proof of this can be seen in these two pictures. These are two completely different goldfish sellers, but they are both donning the same outfit.
One of the sellers told me that he offers a "one-week-no-die" guarantee. It seems like a good policy to me, except for the fact that in a week, you'd have to search pretty hard to find next week's street corner location.
Click here to learn more about us and the origin of this art
