Juer Ru | The Classic of Mountains and Seas

26th illustration of 山海经 (The Classic of Mountains and Seas) - 玃如 (Jué Rú)
🦌According to The Classic of Western Mountains: Three hundred and eighty miles southwest is the 皋涂山 (Gāotú Mountain), where the 蔷水 (Qiáng River) originates and flows westward to join the 诸资水 (Zhūzī River). There is a beast shaped like a deer with a white tail, four horns, human hands and its hind two feet like horse hooves.
🦌Many ancient texts and documents record about Jueru such like 《广雅》(Guǎngyǎ) and 《事物绀珠》(Shìwù gàn zhū, a Ming Dynasty encyclopedia) have similar explained that Jueru is a beast, resembling a deer with a white tail, horse feet, human hands, and four horns.
🦌In the Eastern Jin Dynasty period, 郭璞 (Guō Pú) as a well known commentator of The Classic of Mountains and Seas and as instrumental in preserving this valuable mythological and ancient document text, from his annotation about Jueru: "The beast, Jueru, has four horns resembling a deer, horse feet, and human hands. Its tail combines the three forms, and it climbs trees and rocks." This indicates that Jueru is adept at climbing trees and mountains. Some believe that the four-horned antelope resembles Jueru.
🦌Modern research has deduced that the specific location of Gāotú Mountain is within the modern 白龙江 (Báilóng River) basin by comparing ancient documents and geographical features. Gāotú Mountain is located in the border area between the western part of Kang County, Longnan City, Gansu Province and Wudu District.
Speed painting:
https://youtube.com/shorts/mQI4LUjk9xc