Golden Autumn, Jade Feather Wall Scroll

Golden Autumn, Jade Feather

The title refers to the color of Fall, and the white feathers of these white peacocks (white like pure white jade).

The Chinese title is Jin Qiu Yu Yu

To break it down:

Jin = Gold

Qiu = Autumn

Yu4 = Jade

Yu3 = Feather

The "4" and "3" above with "Yu" represent the tones of these two words in Mandarin Chinese. They are actually different words, but when Romanized (made into English letters) they look the same...

Note: The paper used in this artwork is handmade. You may notice some specks or husks embedded in the paper. This is not a defect, but rather proof of the handmade nature of these materials.

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I got a chance to visit the artist's studio in Jinan city recently. I am so impressed by her style and detail in all of the paintings in her collection. I bought as much of her work as I could possibly afford, and I am sure that I will be back for more in a few months.

I also discovered that because she more than a little famous in China, there are a lot of forgeries on the market. I was given a lesson on how to spot forged paintings that are signed with her name. Of course, the best way to avoid that is to get your work directly from the artist and her family, which is why I made the trip to Jinan in the first place.

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More about this piece of Asian artwork:

The artist, Qin Xia lives in Jinan which is the capital city of Shandong Province in northern China.

The red stamp and the Chinese characters close to the stamp say "Qin Xia" (the artist's signature). The other Chinese characters express the title and year painted (2008) in an ancient method that uses certain Chinese characters instead of numbers to represent the current year.

This is an "elaborate style painting" which has a lot of detail and uses a delicate technique with a very fine brush.
Each stroke is meticulously applied. This technique takes a long time for the artist to complete.

This is painted on special xuan paper (known by most as "rice paper") with Chinese black ink and watercolors. Later, I took this painting to Beijing where our master-scroll-maker handbuilt a wonderful silk scroll for this artwork.