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內容簡介（英文） |
Ch’ien Ku (style name Shu-pao; sobriquet Ch’ing-shih was) a native of Wu County (present Soochow) in Kiangsu. Orphaned and uneducated, Ch’ien began to read and study painting only after he went to become a pupil of Wen Cheng-ming. Ch’ien excelled at painting landscapes, orchids, and bamboo.
According to legend, Chung K’uei was the leading general under the T’ang dynasty emperor Te-tsung (r. 780-804). Te-tsung, however, once ridiculed Chung K’uei for his ugliness, for which the general slit his own throat and committed suicide. Regretting his irrevocable act, the emperor posthumously enfeoffed Chung K’uei as a demon-quelling deity. The story of Chung K’uei the Great Ghost-tamer later became extremely popular among the people, who hung up his image at mid-year and year’s end to keep away evil spirits.
This intriguing, delicately colored potrayal of Chung K’uei by Ch’ien Ku differs from popular renditions of the god; here he walks alone in a wintry forest, holding a tablet.
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