Koi Fish with Lotus Playing Cards

Koi Fish with Lotus is a brush painting in traditional Chinese "Gongbi" style. Watercolor and ink on rice paper. In traditional Chinese culture, fish is the symbols of fertility and wealth. Fish images are also often to given as wedding gift as fish multiply rapidly and they often swim in pairs. In China, fish and jade are homonymic words (all sound "yu"), so fish represents affluence and abundance. The Koi fish has a long history in China. It is one of the most popular auspicious things. The ancient China people deem koi fish as one of the symbol of wealth, respect, lucky and power. In particular a Black Fish and a Red Fish frolicking in water resemble the black and white areas of TaiJi ("great ultimate"). So two fish paintings or scrolls can represent yin and yang and has very auspicious meanings. Two fishes are also one of the Eight Auspicious-symbols of Buddhism. They represent firm and harmonious relationship, and they symbolize happiness and can ward off evil. In Feng Shui Lotus Flower and Koi Fish Paintings represent that you live in affluence and every year may you always get more than you wish for. Chinese painting is one of the oldest continuous artistic traditions in the world. Gongbi, or “Meticulous Painting”，has been specially favoured for its realistic technique and bold colouring. GongBi is a careful realist technique in Chinese painting, the opposite of the interpretive and freely expressive XieYi style. The technique calls for brushstrokes to “be as detailed as detailed can be”, uses highly detailed brushstrokes that delimit details very precisely and without independent or expressive variation. In addition, it tries to strike a balance between artistic expression and vitality, is often highly coloured and usually depicts figural or narrative subjects. Gongbi requires drawing with fine lines first to represent the exaggerated likenesses of the objects, and then adds washes of ink and colour layer by layer so as to approach the perfection of exquisiteness and fine art.