Sheep or Goat (it was undoubtedly known in China long before the sheep, which was a later importation called the "Hun-goat" (胡羊)), for its gentleness, was endued with a lot of good moralities by the ancient Chinese, such as diligence, goodness, peace, happiness, ect.
Auspicious &Fengshui Meaning
Chinese Sheep/Goat Painting : And in ancient China, 祥(pronounced xiang and means auspiciousness) and 羊 (pronounced yang and refers to sheep or goat) were interchangable. So吉祥 (ji xiang, meaning good luck) could be replaced by吉羊 (ji yang, literally, auspicious sheep). Therefore, the sheep/goat paintings/scrolls became the emblem of auspiciousness.
Three(3) Sheeps/ Goats Fengshui Painting: 三羊开泰. It is the traditional auspicious image. In this picture, there are three sheeps/goats drawed under the sunshine. It means "spring is approaching", also implies that the owner of thid pattern would be prosperous and be as lucky as desired.
Nine(9) Sheeps/ Goats Paintings: Combined with pine trees or bamboos or plum blossoms. "羊" means "阳"(sun). 9 numbers mean long. 九羊启泰. These feng shui sheep paintings mean lucky sun shines above your head and everything goes well for a long time.
