The Quiet Elegance of the Lotus Pond

This painting features a pair of Mandarin ducks floating through patches of lotus flowers and lilies.

In Chinese culture, Mandarin ducks or 鴛鴦 represent a loyal and affectionate couple or a happily married couple.

The artist has done a few paintings with this composition, and he often titles them as 荷塘清趣 or "Hé Táng Qīng Qù"; however, this time, there is no title, just a signature and date.

The characters on this painting read, 歲在丁酉年, which is an ancient way to indicate this was painted in 2017. The artist signed it, 袁野畫並記, or "Yuan Ye Painted". 畫 is a character that in this context means, "painted by". 並記 means "also written [by]".

Materials used are watercolors on handmade xuan paper. The painting was then mounted with a copper-brown-colored silk brocade matting/border.

About the Artist:

This was hand painted by (Yuan Ye) who lives near Guilin in Southern China. Most of his paintings feature fish which are his specialty.