Bird and Fish Ring Sculpture

A weathered branch inside a bronze ring, a gold bird above, a fish below.

Three things sit in the circle and each one is an old wish. The pine is the tree that stays green through winter, the Chinese shorthand for a long life. The bird perched at its highest point is good news arriving. The fish, 鱼, sounds like 余, surplus, so it stands for having more than enough, and it swims at the bottom of the ring where the water would be. The ring itself is the moon, or the round window of a scholar's garden, depending on who you ask.

It is a piece for the wall a sofa faces, an entry console, or the top of a low cabinet. Choose the size by the width of the surface it will stand on.