Squirrels on the Chestnut Tree

松鼠圖

1300s

Ge Shuying 松田

(Chinese, active 1300s)

China, Yuan dynasty (1271-1368)

Hanging scroll; ink on paper

Painting: 97 x 39.4 cm (38 3/16 x 15 1/2 in.); Overall with knobs: 181.6 x 58 cm (71 1/2 x 22 13/16 in.)

John L. Severance Fund 1979.70

Location: not on view

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Did You Know?

Dr. Ju-hsi Chou argues that Yongtian and Songtian were different, but related (father-son, master-pupil, or brothers) painters of squirrels. Ge was apparently their family name. A Tokyo National Museum squirrel painting signed Songtian Shanren (松田山人) has a seal giving the artist's formal name as Ge Shuying (葛淑英).

Description

One squirrel perches on a branch nibbling a chestnut, while the other on ground is approaching a fallen chestnut. The painter used fine, short staccato strokes to simulate the animal’s soft fur, while the tree is depicted with broader wet strokes in a rougher manner.

Ge Shuying is known for his depictions of squirrels in a monochrome style characterized by crisp, decisive brushstrokes. He may have been a Chan (Zen) priest-painter, or perhaps a Daoist painter, active in the Hangzhou region of eastern China. From there his works spread to Japan, where squirrel paintings gained the attention of Japanese collectors.