Fish and Water Plants

Fish and Water Plants (魚藻圖)

Lang Shining (郎世寧, 1688-1766), Qing Dynasty (1644-1911)

Hanging scroll, ink and color on silk, 68.8 x 122.1 cm, National Palace Museum, Taipei

       In this painting, Lang Shining’s rendering of aquatic plants and fish is unique. He enlarged the size of the fish and positioned the plants on the surface of the water as below the larger fish, creating an unusual visual effect that makes the two large fish appear to be floating in the air. Judging from some markings in the plant patterns near the edge of the painting, this work may have originally been glued to the surface of a palace wall and then later removed and remounted as a hanging scroll.