Elephant and Attendants

Viewing notes

A viewer's written impression — not a buyer review or first-hand record

This polychrome group is a grand procession: a bodhisattva riding an elephant, attended on both sides. The central figure wears a golden crown and red-and-green sashes, seated in full lotus on a canopied throne on the elephant's back, a ruyi held lightly in one hand, while an orange flame-patterned round halo swirls open behind. The elephant is pale gold all over, its forehead dressed in painted trappings, its long tusks white and its trunk curled down before it. Eight attendants stand in rows at either side, their draperies intricate and their colours varied, offering coral, flower baskets and treasure bowls with reverent expressions. The whole group stands on a great white cloud base, its cloud-heads rolling in layers. Grandeur and detail together — a group made to be enshrined whole in a spacious shrine, or to serve as the weighty centrepiece of a large interior.