The Shar Pei's wrinkles are not incidental to the breed — they are the breed. The deep folds of loose skin, particularly around the face and neck, give the Shar Pei an appearance of concentrated, slightly weary wisdom that is unlike any other dog's. Portrait styles that work with tonal depth and shadow find the Shar Pei an extraordinary subject — each wrinkle creates a highlight and a shadow, and together they build a face of unusual sculptural complexity. A Shar Pei portrait rewards close inspection in a way that most breed portraits do not.
Coat colours and how they render
Shar Peis come in a wide range of solid colours — fawn, cream, red, black, blue, brown, sable and apricot among them — in three coat types: horse coat (very short and prickly), brush coat (slightly longer) and bear coat (soft and longer). The wrinkles are most pronounced in younger dogs and around the face and neck at all ages.
Fawn and cream Shar Peis are the most common portrait subjects. The warm, even tone of these coats in oil painting takes on the amber quality of the painting tradition and the wrinkles are picked out by the directional light in a way that gives the portrait extraordinary tonal richness. Each fold catches the light differently and the face becomes a study in warm and cool shadow.
Black Shar Peis produce the most dramatic portrait results. In Old Masters and noir styles the deep coat and the wrinkled structure create an image of great intensity — the wrinkles catching reflections of light in the deep black coat in ways that create highlights of almost metallic quality.
Red and chocolate Shar Peis suit renaissance and oil painting well. The rich warm tones of these coats amplify in the painting tradition and the wrinkled face takes on a quality of ancient authority.
Blue Shar Peis — the cool grey-blue dilute — produce atmospheric watercolour and impressionist results. The cool tone of the coat and the wrinkled structure create portraits of unusual mood.
Recommended styles for Shar Peis
Oil Painting — finds the extraordinary tonal depth in the wrinkled face structure. Old Masters — amplifies the ancient dignified quality of the breed. Renaissance — the sculptural face structure suits the formal tradition. Noir — the deep shadows within the wrinkles suit the atmospheric quality of the noir style. Ancient Egyptian Portrait — the Shar Pei's Chinese antiquity and the style's ancient associations create an interesting combination.
Photo tips
The wrinkles are the defining portrait feature of the Shar Pei and the source photo must show them clearly. Natural light from a slight angle — not flat front light — picks out the wrinkle structure by creating the light and shadow within the folds that the portrait needs to work from. A photo taken at eye level with the dog sitting and looking forward gives the clearest view of the face wrinkles. Puppy Shar Peis have the most dramatic wrinkles — if your dog has grown into their skin, a photo from slightly above shows the remaining face wrinkles most clearly.