Album of Daoist and Buddhist Themes: Search the Mountain: Leaf 41 (1200s): Art, History and Details

Album of Daoist and Buddhist Themes: Search the Mountain: Leaf 41 (1200s) is in the Cleveland Museum of Art collection.

The work and its context

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

The principal—and largest—figure in this leaf depicts Erlang, a celestial commander in a popular myth. Here he wears full armor and holds his sword. Seated by a pine tree, he orders his celestial army to rid Mt. Guankou of the undesirable creatures in the wilderness, including a wolf, a small alligator, and a monkey dressed in human clothes. This subject was first painted by a Northern Song artist, Gao Yi, and remained popular through the Southern Song period and during the Ming dynasty. In this album, the Soushan Tu 搜山圖 (Search the Mountain) uses 10 leaves to complete its imagery. This is now the earliest known version of the narrative, as Gao Yi’s has not survived.

Object facts

• Title: Album of Daoist and Buddhist Themes: Search the Mountain: Leaf 41
• Date: 1200s
• Culture: China, Southern Song dynasty (1127-1279)
• Type: Painting
• Technique: Album; ink on paper
• Dimensions: Painting: 34.3 x 38.5 cm (13 1/2 x 15 3/16 in.); Overall: 35 x 39.9 cm (13 3/4 x 15 11/16 in.)
• Collection: ASIAN - Album leaf
• Department: Chinese Art
• Accession number: 2004.1.41

A detail from the museum

A commander in armor is seated on a devil, surrounded by three more. One of his lieutenants (right) is whirling a snake in the air. On the left, demon-soldiers surround a monkey with human body.

Collection credit

John L. Severance Fund in honor of Dr. Ju-hsi Chou and Gift of various donors to the department of Asian Art (by exchange)

Further reading listed by the museum

• Martin, F. R. Zeichnungen nach Wu tao-tze aus der götter- und sagenwelt Chinas. München: F. Bruckmann a.g, 1913.
• Fong, Wen. Images of the Mind: Selections from the Edward L. Elliott Family and John B. Elliott Collections of Chinese Calligraphy and Painting at the Art Museum, Princeton University. Princeton, N.J.: Art Museum, Princeton University in association with Princeton University Press, 1984.
• Christie, Manson & Woods International Inc. Fine Chinese Ceramics, Paintings and Works of Art. 21 September 2000. Lot 204.

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.