Squirrel and Grapes

Sha Fu Chinese

Not on view

In Suzhou the Sha family owned a famous shop selling woodblock prints, which was destroyed by the Taiping occupation in 1860. Sha Fu found asylum in Shanghai and continued the family tradition of painting figures, particularly beautiful women, popularizing the genre in Shanghai.

Artists like Sha Fu who made their living by selling paintings of popular subjects in the inexpensive fan format were no longer déclassé in Shanghai in the late 19th century. Fans were gifts often exchanged among friends, and a bourgeois clientele enjoyed the company of a favorite artist, regarding him as something of a celebrity.

Squirrel and Grapes, Sha Fu (Chinese, 1831–1906), Folding fan mounted as an album leaf; ink and color on alum paper, China

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