This fine and unusual sculpture appears to be of the group of gilt-bronze images made in the early part of the Ming Dynasty as gifts to Tibetan Buddhist temples, and which therefore have been referred to as Sino-Tibetan. Many are inscribed with the reign marks of the Yongle and Xuande periods. The objects are generally cast in one piece with the lotus throne. For related objects, see a standing figure of an arhat with hands held in anjalimudra, and a portrait of a seated lama, illustrated by Ulrich von Schroeder, Indo-Tibetan Bronzes, Hong Kong, 1981, nos. 150A and E. Compare, also, the similar shape of the head and ears of the infant Sakyamuni, believed to be of the period 1450-1500 A.D., in the Musee Guimet, ibid., no. 150G