TANG DYNASTY (618-907)

Votive gilt-bronze figures of the 'Teaching Buddha,' with right hand raised in variants of vitarka mudra, and left hand resting on the knee, became extremely popular from the turn of the eighth century. Two closely related gilt-bronze figures in the collection of the Shanghai Museum are illustrated in S. Matsubara, Chuugoku Bukkyo Chokokushi Ron (The Path of Chinese Buddhist Sculpture), vol. 3, Tang, Five Dynasties, Sung and Taoism Sculpture, Tokyo, 1995, pl. 720 A and B. Compare, also, a larger pair of stone 'Teaching Buddhas,' one dated to the Chang'an reign (AD 701-704) and the other to the Jinglong reign (AD 707-709), both in the collection of the Ruicheng County Museum, Shanxi province, illustrated by R.L. Thorp, Son of Heaven: Imperial Art of China, Seattle, 1988, pp. 108-9.