MING DYNASTY, DATED BY INSCRIPTION TO THE 22ND YEAR OF CHENGHUA, CORRESPONDING TO 1486, AND OF THE PERIOD

The inscription on the reverse is worn and only partially legible, but mentions a temple in Kaifeng and that a monk named Zhilu made the sculpture. The inscription also incorporates a date: third month, 22nd year of Chenghua (1486).

Other large, dated stone Buddhist figures from the Ming dynasty include the figure of Mahasthamaprapta from Xinxiang city, bearing a date corresponding to 1412 of the Yongle period, and the figure of Amitabha Buddha from Xianhua Monastery, Longyao county, bearing a date corresponding to 1497 of the Hongzhi period, illustrated by Li Jingjie in Shifo Xuancui (Essence of Buddhistic Statues), Beijing, 1995, p. 165, no. 145 and p. 166, no. 146, respectively.