Wang Chengpei

Wang Chengpei spent his life painting in Yangzhou, a city where merchants and artists mixed like ink in water. He loved to hide tiny symbols in his work, like a lucky coin or a blooming plum, because back then, art buyers believed these little details brought good fortune. You’ll spot his playful layers best in A Collection of Spring Fortune, a scroll where every inch tells a quiet joke about wealth and spring’s return.

Slide into the last panel and you might miss the tiny frog on a coin, but once you see it, the whole painting feels alive.