NORTHERN QI DYNASTY (AD 550-577)

The present figure may be compared to a gilt-bronze bodhisattva of comparable height (19 cm.) shown standing on a related base with the hands held in the same mudras, which is dated to the Northern Qi dynasty, illustrated in Comprehensive Illustrated Catalogue of Chinese Buddhist Statues in Overseas Collections, vol. 3, Beijing, 2005, p. 464. Like the present figure there is a flame-shaped mandorla behind the head. See also the gilt-bronze bodhisattva shown standing on a very similar lotus base, the tips of the lotus petals similarly upturned, between two smaller figures on a four-legged pedestal, illustrated by Jin Shen, Zhongguo Lidai Jinian Foxiang Tudian (Illustrated Chinese Buddha Images Through the Ages), Beijing, 1995, pp. 255 and 477, pl. 185. The figure is backed by a flame-form mandorla inscribed on the back with an inscription that dates it to the 2nd year of Tianbao, which corresponds to AD 551, placing the altar very early in the Northern Qi dynasty.