The inscription, which is partially illegible, may be read, Daming Chongzhen shi er nian san yue er shi qi ri chen shi sichuan chengdu fu mian zhou min li shang yi qi huang shi nan chun fang sheng ___ fa xin zhu zao changyou zuntian pusa yizun ___ yuan nian ___ zhu xiang liu zhi_, and may be translated, 'On the morning of the 27th day of the 3rd month of the 12th year of the Ming Emperor Chongzhen in the Chengdu district of Sichuan, Huang Nanchun, the wife of Li Shangyi, commissioned the casting of this figure of Changyou zuntian Bodhisattva, engraved by Liu zhi'.

This large figure is related to other imposing representations of military bodhisattva, such as the Ming dynasty bronze figure of Skanda, a guardian deity of law, the first of thirty-two generals under the four Heavenly Kings, shown holding a similar sceptre-shaped weapon across his arms which are raised in front of his chest, illustrated in Ancient Temples in Beijing, Beijing, pl. 127. Compare, also, the Ming dynasty stucco figure of another military bodhisattva of comparable size and with very similar face shown holding a similar weapon in his right hand in the Shanhua Temple, illustrated in Buddhist Sculpture of Shanxi Province, Beijing, 1991, pl. 267. Another gilt-bronze figure (99.6cm.) dated to the Ming dynasty also representing a bodhisattva in full armor, his hands positioned to rest atop the now missing weapon, is illustrated in Fojiao diaosu mingpin tulu (Images of Famous Buddhist Sculpture), Beijing, 1997, no. 542.