Dimensions: Height 69 cm Wide 26 cm Depth 20 cm
Weight: 10.7 Kilograms with wood base

The figure is modeled in stucco over a core, standing on a rectangular base, the hands raised together in a gesture of reverence. The youthful face is sensitively rendered with almond-shaped eyes, rounded cheeks, and a small mouth set in a serene expression, the hair gathered into a topknot. The flowing robe falls in elegant folds, with traces of original red, black, and gilt pigments still preserved across the surface.

The hollowed cavity at the back indicates that the figure was once consecrated, consistent with Tang Buddhist sculptural practice. Figures such as this would have served as attendants in larger temple ensembles, flanking central images of the Buddha or bodhisattvas. The survival of stucco figures from this period is relatively rare, given their fragile medium, but they represent an important chapter in the development of Chinese Buddhist sculpture, bridging the monumental cave temple traditions and the more intimate devotional statuary.

Comparative Literature & References

• Compare with stucco attendants from the Tang caves at Tianlongshan, Shanxi province, many of which show similar facial modeling and polychromy.

• A closely related Tang stucco figure in the collection of the Freer Gallery of Art, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, D.C.

• See: Angela Falco Howard et al., Chinese Sculpture, Yale University Press, 2006, for discussion of Tang stucco traditions in temple contexts.

• For auction parallels: Christie’s, New York, Fine Chinese Ceramics and Works of Art, sales including Tang dynasty stucco figures of attendants and bodhisattvas.