I sure hope these characters have significant meaning to the owner and he did not pick them randomly.
At first I had trouble to realize it was 自由 due to the poor quality of 由. I thought it was "自生" which means "growing wild/native" in Japanese.
Adam has commented that it is not 九 but a poorly miswritten simplify version of 龍, which is 龙.
九 = nine
艺 (traditional version: 藝) = art; talent, ability; craft
术 (traditional version: 術) = skill, art; method; trick, device
艺术 (traditional version: 藝術) = art
自 = self, private, personal; from
由 = cause, reason; from
自由 = freedom; free; liberty
玉 = jade, precious stone, gem
