Yinchuan: Hanshan and Shide

CHINA, Ningxia, Yinchuan; Ming to Qing dynasty

The statues were discovered in Yinchuan in 1986. The two figures are famous as eccentric Chan recluses and have also been claimed as manifestations of the Bodhisattvas Manjusri and Samantabhadra. Both were poets active during the Tang dynasty (618–907) and Hanshan’s work is particularly renowned. They are mentioned in numerous historic texts such as the Song Biographies of Eminent Monks and the Chronicle of the Buddha and Patriarchs.
Shide holds a broom and is said to have worked occasionally with Hanshan in the kitchens of Guoqing Temple, filling a bamboo-made container with leftovers. The men are depicted as barefooted and disheveled, with unkempt hair and merry expressions. They wear cross-collared, wide-sleeved robes that are tied by a cord and have a string of gourds about their body. Hanshan traditionally holds a scroll and a writing brush in his hands.