Wutaishan Foguang Temple East Hall: Attendant Bodhisattvas

CHINA, Shanxi, Xinzhou; Tang dynasty

There are ten attendant Bodhisattvas upon the platform in the East Hall, attending the Three Buddhas and the two main Bodhisattvas, Manjusri and Samantabhadra. These figures are all similar in appearance apart from their hand gestures. Each figure wears a jeweled headdress and an ornate necklace. Below a m id-forehead urna, the raised line of the eyebrows falls to the nose and the eyes are downcast. They wear tight tunics and stoles that wind over their arms and loop across their skirts. A few examples of the hand gestures, as shown, are holding the hands in either anjali (reverence) or lotus mudras.
Earlier figures from the Tang dynasty (618–907) were shapely, but by the end of the dynasty, aesthetic standards had changed to prefer a taller and more slender appearance.