This sculpture of an attendant bodhisattva was most likely part of a colossal triptych showing a Buddha flanked by two such figures. It is made of willow, a material that was often used in the north for the construction of Buddhist sculpture, and was once brightly painted. The body's sense of volume, the careful rendering of the braids that fall along the shoulders, and the scarf tied at the chest are typical features of Buddhist statuary dating from the tenth and eleventh centuries.
