Attendant Bodhisattva, Five Dynasties (907–60) or Liao dynasty (907–1125), 10th–11th century. Wood (willow) with gesso and pigment; single woodblock construction. H. 149.9 cm. Rogers Fund, 28.122.1. © 2000–2023 The Metropolitan Museum of Art.
This sculpture of an attendant bodhisattva was most likely part of a colossal triptych showing a Buddha flanked by two such figures. It is made of willow, a material that was often used in the north for the construction of Buddhist sculpture, and was once brightly painted. The body’s sense of volume, the careful rendering of the braids that fall along the shoulders, and the scarf tied at the chest are typical features of Buddhist statuary dating from the tenth and eleventh centuries.
