Shakyamuni

Northern Qi, 550-577 AD
Shanghai Museum

The short-lived Norlthern Qi dynasty produced many buddhist steles in a sensitively-rendered, naturalistic style. In this example, Shakyamuni (the historical Buddha) meditates upon a lotus throne within an elaborate mandorla of five smaller Buddha images. His hands, now broken off, would have displayed the usual mudras of abhaya (fear-not) and varada (giving). The missing jewel in his forehead represented the Buddha's urna, a tuft of hair that is one of the traditional marks of a Buddha.