Our auction of Indonesian paintings on the 9th of December 2014 contains this painting by Lee Man Fong, 70 x 108 cm.
In Chinese Feng Shui, eight is a lucky number. It stands for (financial) good fortune and abundance. The goldfish is a Chinese cultural symbol of wealth and abundance and celebrated as one of its most important animal symbols. The Chinese word for fish even sounds like the word for abundance.
It is not coincidental that, in the current lot, Lee Man Fong (1913-1988) painted ten fish, of which eight are goldfish. Being of Chinese-Indonesian descent, and having lived in
Furthermore, Lee Man Fong, after being granted a scholarship, had also lived in the
In 1945, he visited
His series of record-breaking panoramic paintings depicting (a quite idyllic)
The current lot can be considered a classic example of Lee Man Fong’s oeuvre of portraying animals.
Light runs through the aquatic plants at the water’s surface, while the vegetation and rocks in the lower part of the painting are more subdued, creating a deep contrast with the fluent, brightly coloured oranges and pinks of the goldfish, that seem to be weightless, floating without a care in the world, as if they are aware of their symbolic meaning.
Light runs through the aquatic plants at the water’s surface, while the vegetation and rocks in the lower part of the painting are more subdued, creating a deep contrast with the fluent, brightly coloured oranges and pinks of the goldfish, that seem to be weightless, floating without a care in the world, as if they are aware of their symbolic meaning.
More information about our auctions of Indonesian paintings:
René de Visser
Zeeuws Veilinghuis
Herengracht 74
4331 PX Middelburg
The Netherlands
0031 (0)118-650680
