Manjusri Bodhisattva

CHINA; Liao dynasty

Manjusri is seated in the relaxation posture on a lotus saddle that rises from the back of the lion mount. The lion strides across a rectangular table that is supported on another base with curved legs. The Bodhisattva’s left hand cups a rounded object too worn to identify and holds in the right a broken sword hilt. The figure’s hair is tied into a high topknot. Both shoulders are covered by a monastic robe, the sleeves of which turn buoyantly upward. The roaring lion on which the Bodhisattva rides paces energetically forward with its tail flaring out behind. Accompanying it to one side is the small figure of a keeper in Central Asian dress. A protrusion on the back of the Bodhisattva suggests that the figure might originally have had a nimbus secured there.