Bodhisattvas

Tang Dynasty, 618 - 906 AD
Gansu Provincial Museum

These tall and elegant clay sculptures come from the Tiantishan grottoes in Wuwei. Originally their hands would have displayed lotus flowers on long stems. The figures are similar in style, but different in physiognomy and in details of costume around the waist and upper body. The modeling of the torso of the figure on the left is much finer than the figure on the right.