搜山圖 Painting of searching the mountain

(for more detail http://xn--rhtw9vlu4bfqe.tw/~xnrhtw/EastCapital/attachments/month_0803/20080321_8f8a6e3b3911c706e12bpeMT1aBGxLM7.jpg)

"Painting of searching the mountain" (搜山图) descripts the folklore of Erlang (二郎神 demigod of the second son) arresting monsters living in the mountains. This story is widely circulated as folklore and recorded in many literary works. Many version of the story has been painted, the earliest was painted by Northern Song Dynasty painter Yi Gao (高益); "painting of searching ghosts and spirits in the mountains". Due to the popularity among royal families, the story was painted many times during the Ming and Qing dynasties.

This "Painting of searching the mountain" was painted at the end Song or beginning of the Yuan dynasty by an anonymous artist. When compare to other painting of the same subject, this is just part of the original paint, because the main character- Erlang is not presented, but the artistic achievement presented in this painting surpasses other versions.

In the painting; Magic god figures triumphantly searched the mountains for monsters. The monsters were presented in various forms of wild beasts like tiger, bear, hog, monkeys, foxes, goats, deer, rabbits, lizards, snakes and the like, and some monsters were in the form of a woman. They were flushed out of their hidings and desperately trying to escape, or hide in the cave to avoid arrest. The divine law enforcements carried weapons and employed trained birds of prey and sight hounds to capture the monsters just like a hunting party. Traditionally, Erlang is a positive character in folklores, but the god figures depicted in this painting were vicious and wearing the Mongolian style helmets, while the facial expressions of those monsters were peaceful and kind or suffering. I wonder if the artist was intentionally doing this as a satire of those invading Mongol soldiers and the oppressed people in the mortal world.

The hunting birds employed included a Mountain Hawk Eagle (the one on the fist) and a Golden Eagle (the one grapping the monster in woman form).

This picture is currently in the collection of Beijing Palace Museum.

《搜山圖》卷呈現民間傳說二郎神搜山降魔的故事，所以也稱為《二郎神搜山圖》。二郎神的故事在民間廣泛流傳，也在許多文學作品中提及。最早有北宋畫家高益畫的《鬼神搜山圖》，明、清兩代，也不斷有傳本流傳。

此卷《搜山圖》是南宋末或元初佚名畫家之作。與同一題材的各種不同版本比較，其中缺少主神二郎神的部分，因此推測是個殘本，，但是其繪畫技巧卻高出其它各本。圖中神兵神將們耀武揚威地搜索山林中各種魔怪。魔怪們均是各種野獸變的，有虎、熊、豕、猴、狐狸、山羊、獐、兔、蜥蜴、蛇及樹精木魅等。這些妖怪，或是原形，或化為女子，他們都在神將們追逐下，倉惶逃命，或藏匿山洞，或拒絕受擒。而那些神將們則手持刀槍劍戟、縱鷹放犬，前堵後截，使妖怪無處逃身。本來，二郎神是作為正面人物來歌頌的，然而看了此卷之後，卻得到了一個相反的印象。那些神兵神將，一個個凶神惡煞，穿戴胡服，而那些妖怪們卻面目和善穿戴漢服，不知作者是有意還是無意，使觀者自然地就會聯想到，當時北方胡人南侵，對老百姓的欺壓情形。

本圖使用猛禽有角鷹和雕(金雕)。現藏北京故宮博物院。