Fiery orange and gold blaze out of a deep green forest. A male golden pheasant stands in profile among ferns, facing left, his yellow crest raised and his long patterned tail sweeping down to the lower right.
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A rich choice for a dining room, a library corner or a living room with dark green, rust or warm brown walls, especially above a sideboard or a fireplace.
Printable digital download, around 9,000 px on the long edge
The commercial licence covers hotels, offices, restaurants and public spaces
Print it yourself at any size, on metal, acrylic, glass or fine-art paper
On a Samsung Frame TV
Every download also includes a 3840 × 2160 file made for the Samsung Frame and other art-mode TVs: the whole work, uncropped, on a quiet mat in a colour taken from the picture. Send it to the TV with the SmartThings app and show it in Art Mode. All Frame TV art →
How large can I print it?
The file is around 9,000 px on the long edge. That prints crisply to about 75 cm on the long edge at gallery quality, and to 130–170 cm at the distance you look at a picture over furniture. Sizes, paper and framing, in detail →
Which paper or surface?
Gold on dark grounds wants a matte or satin fine-art paper (200–310 gsm), or aluminium for humid rooms; glossy photo paper turns the black into a mirror. The pale works also take satin and baryta papers.
Which licence do I need?
Personal (€9.99) covers your own home and gifts. Any business or space open to the public — a spa, clinic, hotel, office, restaurant — needs the commercial licence (€99.99, one venue, no renewal). The venue guide →
Much of the drama comes from the diagonal. The bird's head sits high on the left, and the long tail runs down and away to the lower right, so the whole body forms one sweeping line across the sheet. Along that line the colours change: golden-yellow crest, then the scaled cape in orange and black, then the orange-red breast and body, then the tail with its fine pattern. Around him, ferns and palm-like fronds fill the space, many of them rendered in gold so that the bird seems to stand in a thicket lit by evening sun. The deep forest-green background calms it all down and makes the warm colours burn brighter. Up close you can follow each scale of the cape; across the room the bird becomes a flame in the undergrowth.
Few birds look as theatrical as this, yet the golden pheasant, Chrysolophus pictus, is a shy bird of dense mountain forests in western China. There the males are far more often heard than seen, slipping away through thick cover at the first disturbance. Only the male has these colours; the female is a mottled brown that blends into the undergrowth. In courtship he spreads the barred orange-and-black cape forward so that it fans out around his face. The species was brought to Europe as an ornamental bird for parks and aviaries, and from the late 19th century small wild-living populations took hold in parts of Britain, though they have now all but vanished.
Deep greens, terracotta and chocolate brown walls carry its warmth beautifully, and it gives a plain cream room an instant focal point. A gilt or antique-brass frame suits the gold fronds, while a black frame makes the orange look even hotter. Warm evening light is ideal. Hang it with The Barn Owl in Gold for a pair of darker bird prints, or beside The Autumn Dance to play up the orange tones. Printed from the 7168 × 10752 px file, it stays sharp to about 60 × 90 cm, which suits a chimney breast or a long dining wall. Also in the download is a Frame TV version with a gallery mat.
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