Xu Beihong Chinese Painting Print – Rat Pig

The whole zodiac, in ink: Xu Beihong's twelve animals — rat, ox, tiger, rabbit, dragon, snake, horse, goat, monkey, rooster, dog, pig — each rendered with the master's direct, lively brush. The zodiac is China's oldest popular art — the twelve-year cycle that governs births, marriages, and fortunes — and Xu Beihong's modern-realist hand gives the folk subjects new life: the ancient animals, seen fresh. It is the Chinese calendar as a menagerie, and every animal has character, the year's full cast.

Each beast gets its moment: the tiger's swagger, the rat's quickness, the horse's nobility, the dragon's splendor, the pig's contentment — all drawn with Xu Beihong's famous economy, a few strokes per animal and the character complete, the anatomy correct, the personality unmistakable. Ink only, and the monochrome suits the subject's folk roots — the village papercut's directness, elevated. Together they are a year's worth of personality, the calendar's drama.

Zodiac sets suit family rooms, studies, anyone collecting their sign — or all twelve, the complete cycle. It comes as the unmounted core only, with no frame or scroll, so arrangement is yours. A characterful, complete menagerie.