Page 78 - September 20 2021 Fabian Collection of Chinese Paintings Art Bonhams NYC

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XUGU (1823/4-1896)
Squirrel and Bamboo, 1889
Hanging scroll, ink and color on paper, inscribed by the artist and
dated jichou, and signed Xugu with an artist’s seal Xugu Shu hua.
27 x 15in (68.5 x 38.1cm)

$40,000 - 60,000

虛谷 松鼠 設色紙本 立軸 一八八九年作

Provenance/來源:
Far East Fine Arts, San Francisco, California
加州舊金山遠東藝術中心

Published/出版:
Toda, Teisuke and Hiromitsu Ogawa comp. Comprehensive Illustrated
Catalogue of Chinese Paintings, Third Series, Volume 1: American and
Canadian Collections, University of Tokyo Press, 2013,
A50-066, p. 207
戶田禎佑、小川裕充，《中國繪畫總合圖錄》三編，第一卷，東京大
學出版會，東京，2013年，A50-48，頁207

Tsao, Jung Ying, Craig L. Yee and Siyuan Chen. Juefei An Xugu: yi
quan da po qu lai jin, Breaking through the Past to Modernity: The art
of Xugu, Beijing, Liangyou Huayi, 2012, no. 10
曹仲英, Craig L. Yee and Siyuan Chen. 《覺非盦虛谷: 一拳打破去來
今》，北京良友華藝，2012年，圖錄編號10

Born Zhu Huairen, the artist changed his name to Xubai after
becoming a monk, but was mostly known by his courtesy name
Xugu. Among the popular subjects he painted, he was famed for his
rendering of squirrels. The most notable technique that Xugu applied
here is depicting the squirrel’s fur with short but dry brush strokes
against a layer of light ink wash, which resulted in the fluffy texture.
Additionally, the artist built great contrast between the dry and wet ink
of the squirrel and rock, and the red and green colors of the bamboo
leaves and fruit. With different types of brushwork and various shades
of ink wash, Xugu created a characteristic squirrel seeking delicious
fruit hanging just above its nose.

原名朱懷仁，僧名虛白，以字虛谷行。其畫作題材廣泛，但以松鼠
最具亮色。本幅以乾筆短線淡墨表現松鼠的蓬鬆絨毛，是虛谷的特色
筆法。此外，用於刻畫松鼠和山石的乾濕不同筆墨，以及表現竹葉
和果實的紅綠兩色，都為畫面帶來更多的對比趣味。憑藉變化多端的
筆法以及用色，虛谷成功地塑造出正在覓食的松鼠試圖攀折果實的
可愛神態。

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