Republic of China Period Chinese Scroll of Cold Mountain and Pickup

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Chinese scroll of Cold Mountain and Pickup, a rubbing from an engraved stone stele in the Hanshan Temple in Suzhou, … Read more Chinese scroll of Cold Mountain and Pickup, a rubbing from an engraved stone stele in the Hanshan Temple in Suzhou, carved by Tang Renzhai (唐仁齋 ) some time in the years 1875-1908. The stone carving is an accurate copy of an earlier painting by Luo Ping (羅聘 1733-1799), one of the Eight Eccentrics.

The rubbing is mounted on a white and ecru silk brocade nakawamashi in a floral pattern, with white and ecru silk brocade futai in a floral pattern, a glossy sky blue and grey silk brocade ten and ji in a floral pattern, and black jikusaki at the bottom. The rubbing of the Gyosho style Kanji and Hirigana at the top is signed by the author at the left, with two seal marks. The signature of a collector is at the lower left, with a large, red seal mark. Image size is 24 1/2" wide x 49" high. Circa early 20th century. Small spots, voids and streaks in the black ink ground of the image are seen, as made, excellent vintage condition.

Hanshan and Shide are depicted debating the finer points of Zen using their shared nonsense language. Their carefree attitude symbolizes their knowledge that the things which most men strive for are illusions, and that what really counts is not rank or riches but their own Buddha nature.

Hanshan and Shide ("Cold Mountain" and "Pickup") are popular figures in Zen painting who have been depicted many times as a pair, and the duo is a motif in Zen painting and representative of deeper meanings in Zen Buddhism as a whole. Hanshan, whose name means "Cold Mountain," is believed to be an eccentric Zen poet from the Tang Dynasty (618–907) who lived on Tiantang Mountain in Zhejiang Province, writing zen poems on cave walls. Shide), whose name means "foundling" or "pickup," was a kitchen worker at the nearby Guoqing Temple. The two formed a close friendship, with Shide stealing scraps from the kitchen to bring to Hanshan, and the pair spending time in nature, amid mountain caves, away from societal structure and institutions and sharing a nonsensical language, which some took as a sign of them being enlightened.

ref. The Collected Songs of Cold Mountain, Bill Porter (Red Pine), trans., Copper Canyon Press See less