Custom Paintings for Chinese Homes

What Chinese-speaking homes and restaurants hang, and why on canvas

The requests we get from Singapore, Malaysia, Hong Kong, Taiwan, Australia, the United States and Canada repeat in a helpful way. A wide 山水画 above the sofa, on the wall many buyers call the 沙发背景墙. Koi near the entrance or in a corner of the living room. Peonies in a bedroom or a dining room. Cranes and pine as a gift for parents. Something red and gold by the front door before the new year. There is a separate page on art for Southeast Asian homes if that is the region you are furnishing.

Most of these subjects grew up as ink on rice paper, mounted as a hanging scroll. We paint them as 手绘油画, hand-painted work on stretched canvas. That changes three practical things. Canvas hangs like any other painting, stretched on solid wood bars or framed, with no glass in front of it. It scales, so the same composition can be painted small for a hallway or very large for a lobby. And an ink-wash look on canvas is a painted effect rather than ink soaking into paper, so it reads softer up close and stronger from across a room. We will tell you plainly which of your references translate well to canvas and which do not.

Painting to your 风水画 brief

We are painters, not consultants. We do not tell anyone what is auspicious. You, or your feng shui master, give us the brief and we paint exactly that. Writing it down in plain sentences is the whole trick.

These are the instructions buyers send us most often. We are describing common practice, not giving advice.

Before we start we confirm your brief back to you in writing, point by point. When the canvas is finished we photograph it and send you the photos, so you can check the direction of the water, the count of the fish and the color before anything is packed. If a piece has a defect that is our fault, we repaint it at our cost. If you want to see who holds the brush and in what order the layers go down, read how we paint.

山水画 on canvas: ink-wash look or full color

There are three ways buyers usually go, and they cost the same to paint.

For calligraphy or a supplied composition, identify its author and permission where relevant. Provide verified Chinese text and tell us which symbolic details are your requested choices.

Koi, 牡丹 peonies and the other subjects we paint most

Every subject below is painted by hand to order. Tell us the subject, the count, the palette and the room, and we do the rest.

Koi and lotus

Nine, eight or three fish, red, gold, white or one black, over still water or lotus pads. We can paint the fish entering the frame from the side you choose.

Peony

Soft pink and cream peonies for a bedroom, deep red for a living room or a dining room. We can paint the same composition twice in two palettes so a pair matches two rooms.

Plum, bamboo, orchid, chrysanthemum

Painted singly or as a set of two, three or six. Plum blossom on dark branches is a common Lunar New Year request.

Cranes and pine

The classic longevity pairing, usually asked for as a gift for parents or grandparents. Cranes standing or in flight, pine mist behind.

Dragon and phoenix

Often ordered as a pair for a wedding or a main hall. Tell us how literal or how stylized you want them.

Red and gold done quietly, and Chinese characters

Red and gold does not have to shout. In a modern flat it usually works best as an abstract: broad warm fields, a gold sweep, one strong red gesture, everything else calm. The other route is calligraphy-inspired brushwork, meaning the rhythm and the black-on-cream energy of brush strokes without any readable text.

We paint actual Chinese characters only from text you supply and confirm. Send the exact characters as an image or a file, tell us the script style, and check our sketch photo before we paint. We never choose or invent the wording. One wrong stroke on a wall is embarrassing, and we would rather slow down than guess.

Paintings for Chinese Homes Sizes & Placement

We paint 60 standard sizes from 24 by 20 inches up to 80 by 60 inches, plus sets of two and three. Any other size is painted to your measurements at the same rate, which matters for the long, low horizontal that fits above a three-seat sofa. Anything larger than 80 by 60 inches on a single canvas, up to 5 meters (about 16 feet), is quoted case by case. For a double-height lobby wall we usually suggest a set of two or three panels, since panels are easier to ship and easier to carry up a stairwell than one huge stretcher.

Popular starting points

Let’s discuss the details

See what we already paint in landscape and countryside and floral and botanical, or read how we handle extra large canvases and multi-panel sets.

Chinese restaurants, tea houses and hotels abroad (餐厅挂画)

A restaurant order usually looks like this: one large 山水画 or koi piece at the entrance, a matched run of smaller pieces down the dining room, and something calmer for the private rooms. You can order all of it in one go. Mixed designs count together toward the same price band, so twenty different paintings are priced the same way as twenty of one design.

Two things save real money on a project this size. Rolled canvas in a tube is the cheapest way to ship more than about 20 pieces, and a local framer can stretch or frame them on arrival. Heavy texture is the exception, since thick paint should not be rolled, so those pieces ship stretched or framed. We will tell you which of your chosen designs are too thick to roll before you decide. There is more for venue projects on our restaurants, bars and cafes page.

Gifts, Lunar New Year and ordering in time

Cranes and pine for a parent’s birthday, peonies for a wedding, a koi pond for a housewarming, plum blossom or a red and gold piece for the new year. These are gifts with a date attached, so count backward from the date rather than forward from today.

1. Step 1 Add up the painting time from the table above for the number of pieces you want.
2. Step 2 Add transit. Express is 5 to 10 business days. Sea freight is 25 to 40 days and needs far more lead time.
3. Step 3 Add a few days for your approval photos, and a few more if the piece will be framed locally after it lands.
4. Step 4 Send us your date when you enquire and we will tell you in writing whether it is realistic before you pay anything.

Confirm the applicable requirements for your reference or destination before ordering. Import tax in your own country is your side of the line, and we will supply whatever documents your broker asks for. Payment is usually a 50 percent deposit with the balance before the goods are released, by wire transfer, PayPal or card. Before you send your brief, take a look at how we quote so you know what to include.

Your References for Paintings for Chinese Homes

Our catalog is a starting point, not the limit. Most Chinese-subject work we do begins with something the buyer sends us.

For a first order or a large project we can paint a sample first. It is a separate single-piece order, and the larger order is quoted on its own. If you are furnishing a Chinese restaurant next to a Japanese one, our art for Japanese homes page covers that side. Full terms, bands and packing options are on our trade page.

Paintings for Chinese Homes Sizes & Quote Planning

Paintings for Chinese Homes Questions Answered