Mountain God with Tiger and Attendants

This painting features a mountain god in the guise of a benevolent-looking old man—wearing a red robe and a green sash embellished with gold-painted designs and holding a wooden staff—seated on a tiger. The beast, despite its huge glaring eyes and bared teeth, looks more comical than ferocious, as is typical of tigers in nineteenth-century Korean painting. Three young male attendants flank the deity: their small size reflects both their youth and their lesser stature relative to the mountain god. Behind the figures stands a peach tree, symbol of longevity.

In the Korean native religion, the tiger was worshipped as a deity of the mountains. In Buddhism the Flower Garland (Avatamsaka) Sutra lists the mountain deity as one of 39 Protectors of the (Buddhist) Law. Late Joseon-period paintings of the mountain god represent a confluence of the native tradition and Buddhist influence. Typically, as in this work, the tiger is depicted both in its anthropomorphic form and as an animal. There are two cartouches on this painting: the vertical one at left identifies the subject matter as the Buddhist mountain god mentioned in the Flower Garland Sutra, and the horizontal one at bottom center provides the cyclical date corresponding to 1874 and some minimal information on the donors.