Squirrel on a Pine Branch (1500s): Art, History and Details

Squirrel on a Pine Branch (1500s) is in the Cleveland Museum of Art collection. The museum's creator attribution is Song Tian (Chinese, active 1300s).

The work and its context

The museum's open-access catalogue describes the work:

This painting captures a squirrel in action, distracted and twisting its head while climbing and looking at a little bug to the right. The painter skillfully employs a combination of ink washes and fine brushstrokes to simulate the animal’s fur. Only three simple curved lines depict the squirrel’s claws. The subject of squirrels did not appear in Chinese painting before the late Southern Song (1127–1279) and Yuan periods (1279–1368). The painter Songtian was one of the few Yuan painters who specialized in this theme.

Object facts

• Title: Squirrel on a Pine Branch
• Date: 1500s
• Creator attribution: Song Tian (Chinese, active 1300s)
• Culture: China, Ming dynasty (1368–1644)
• Type: Painting
• Technique: hanging scroll, ink on paper
• Dimensions: Overall: 119.7 x 66.4 cm (47 1/8 x 26 1/8 in.)
• Collection: ASIAN - Hanging scroll
• Department: Chinese Art
• Accession number: 2015.498

A detail from the museum

Although the evergreen pine does not indicate a time of year, the lively activity of the squirrel and the insect suggest a warm season.

Collection credit

Gift from the Collection of George Gund III

View the collection record

See the museum's photographs and full catalogue entry. Catalogue text is reproduced from the Cleveland Museum of Art's open-access data, with HTML formatting removed. This object and its supplied image are designated CC0.