Yinchuan: Manjusri Bodhisattva

CHINA, Ningxia, Yinchuan; Yuan to Ming dynasty

This intricate statue is one of a pair discovered in 1986, with the other depicting Samantabhadra. Manjusri is crowned and holds a ruyi (wish-fulfilling talisman). The figure sits in half lotus position on a lotus saddle mounted on the back of a crouching lion.
Undulating lines are the dominant motif of this sculpture, starting with what were once two ribbons flying buoyantly from the crown’s side-pieces and the braids of hair falling to the shoulders. The lines continue over the brocaded robe and come to rest on the long sleeves that hang from the raised forearms to the thighs. A new set of undulations begins below the lotus saddle in what appears to be a continuation of the intricate belt ornament crisscrossing the thighs. The movement is then taken up in the lion’s haunches, in the coils of the dragon embroidered on the saddle cloth and in the tendrils on its border.