38.5" (w) x 27.0" (h) unframed
98 cm (w) x 68.5 cm (h)
48" (w) x 36" (h) with custom frame
122 cm (w) x 91 cm (h)
When traveling, I always try and stop by one of my dealers of antiquities if I'm in the area. Chin specializes in rare Chinese fabrics, and when I came to his shop, he invited me to his home for a cup of tea by his koi pond. Who could resist! The pond, while absolutely full of fish, was remarkably calm and tranquil. I asked why so many koi in such a small pond. For over 50 years, on every wedding anniversary and his wife's birthday, he added a beautiful koi for good fortune and luck. And the pond, like his heart, always had room for another year of love. His wife has since passed away, but every afternoon, he sits by his sea of love, and relives each of his 50 blissful years.
Acrylic paint on heavy watercolor paper, veiled over with hand-made Japanese rice lace, bathed in a mixture of archival beeswax and UV-resistant polymers, surrounded with border panels wrapped with embossed Thai leaf paper, all gold-leafed and acid-washed, with the top and bottom panels wrapped in late 1800's Mongolian Buddhist black scripture pages, then contemporary rose fabric, with late 1800's Indian cashmere, then late 1800's Turkmenistan tribal fabric from a Tekke robe, adorned at top center with late 1800's Chinese copper money coin in the shape of a fish.
