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SCROLL CHINESE SQUIRREL ON PEACH TREE BRANCH - $65 (Ballwin)
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Qian Xuan (錢選, ca.1235-1305), Song Dynasty (960-1279)
Handscroll, ink and colors on paper, 26.3 x 44.3 cm, National Palace Museum, Taipei
Displays 2 artist seals Shun Chu and Han Mo Yu Hsi.
The colophon paper bears an inscription by OuTa-jen
Ch'ien Hsuan (tzuShun-chu, hao Sun-feng,Ch'ing-chu lao-jen, Hsi-Lan-weng was fromWu-hsing in Chekiang.
The scroll says he was liberal in terperament and nobel in spirit. After the fall of the Sung,
he went into retirement and would not serve the alien Mongul government. Ch'ien Hsuan talent in poetry, painting and calligraphy
established his roll of leader of the Eight Eminents of Wu-hsing. In landscapes, birds, small animals, flowers and figure paining.
The focus of this painting is on the squirrel stealthily making its way along the branch of a peach tree towards the two fruits it has eyed. The elements are balanced in the horizontal composition here. The simplified yet elegant form of the squirrel has been rendered with washes for a soft and light feeling. The dark ink of the feet and eyes emphasize the position and determination of the squirrel. The simple composition, pure coloring, and fine brushwork all follow in the tradition of Song dynasty bird-and-flower painting but combined with the lyrical touch of a scholar painter. For the leaves, the artist used outlines in mature brushwork with washes of color added. The light and elegant coloring reflects the personal touch of Qian Xuan, one of the forerunners of scholar art in the Yuan dynasty.