Squirrel and Bamboo, 1889Hanging 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) 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10Born 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。