Animals and insects are popular in Chinese brush paintings in metaphors in poetic empathy with the traits of man. So much so that certain artists are identified with the creatures they depict: like Tan Changrong for roosters, Huang Zhou for roosters, and Chen Wen Hsi for gibbons, but here Wen Hsi opts for the romantic sentiment: a pair of ducks. To the Chinese, to be auspicious, everything must be paired, for harmony and happiness. So, two ducks waddling amidst scattered reeds in the water, though Wen Hsi had done ducks amidst lotuses, and at least one using his fingers to paint, after his finger-painting tutor Pan Tian-shou. His feathered friends include cranes, pigeons, peacocks, rails, storks and sparrows. In Chinese art, many artists have tackled these amphibious creatures: From Bada Shanren's (Zhu Da) (1626-1705) angry ducks to a more recent Xie Ziling (1910-1997). Comparisons between the two great Singaporean artists Chen Wen Hsi and Cheong Soo Pieng abound, with Soo Pieng known for his versatility in style, while Wen Hsi's forte is his theoretical grounding in the history of Chinese brush painting from old Cathay. No wonder that Wen Hsi had been given a retrospective by the National Art Museum in Beijing, apart from Singapore giving him a retrospective (1982) and a Centennial celebration (2006). His laurels include the Singapore Meritorious Service Star Award (1964) and posthumously, the Gold Award (1992), besides the Asean Cultural and Communications Award (1987). His art tutelage was in the Shanghai College of Art and then the Xinhua College of Art. He had taught at the Nanyang Academy of Fine Arts in Singapore from 1951 to 1959. He was among the four pioneers in the historic painting trip in Bali in 1952. His works are in various institutions including the Ashmolean Museum of Oxford, the Cologne Museum, and the National Gallery of Singapore.