石渠寶笈三編﹝乾清宮﹞,第二冊,頁571&*故宮書畫錄﹝卷五﹞,第三冊,頁404&*故宮書畫圖錄,第八冊,頁103-104&* 錢穀(西元一五○八至一五七二年),江蘇長州人,字叔寶,自號磬室。少孤失學,及長遊學文徵明門下,始得讀書,並兼習繪事。山水、蘭、竹俱能。 本幅繪鍾馗執笏獨步寒林,舊傳鍾馗本唐德宗時之武舉魁首,因貌醜見斥,自刎身亡,德宗後悔莫及,封為驅魔大神。是後,鍾馗辟鬼之說益趨流行,民間每於歲暮暨端午懸其像,以祛邪魅。錢穀此作,設色淺淡,別饒逸氣,則又與民間圖像相逕庭矣。 &* 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.