Votive stele

The formative phase of Chinese Buddhist sculpture is well represented in small, portable votive bronze images such as this. The linear drapery folds and flame motifs of the mandorla (body halo) indicated by little more than incised lines suggest that artists may have worked from drawings or sketches carried back by pilgrims from holy sites in India. This Chinese penchant for combining linear calligraphic surface decoration with sculptural form began to change however in the sixth century toward a more fully, three-dimensional, sculptural style accentuating mass, volume, and naturalism over stylized lineation. Dated by inscription to 596, the stele features two standing Bodhisattvas wearing simple, monastic robes in front of a petal-shaped mandorla. The table-form pedestal bears a twenty-two-character inscription including a cyclical date, the name and title of the donor, and the person to whom the piece was dedicated.