IN THIS LESSON

Chinese Calligraphy Painting-Mandarin Fish

In actual creation, painters often enhance this implied meaning through "combined composition". For example, they may pair the mandarin fish with lotus flowers – since "lotus" (莲) is homophonic to "continuous" (连) in Chinese, forming the auspicious phrase "continuous years of nobility and prosperity" (连年有贵). Alternatively, the mandarin fish is sometimes painted together with peonies, which symbolize "wealth and honor" (富贵), further emphasizing the beautiful wish of "abundance with wealth and honor" (富贵有余), thus enriching the cultural connotation of the painting