Sculpture Bodhisattva Milo - Maitreya and Ginkgo

The Bodhisattva Milo (Sanskrit Maitreya), seated in "Pensive Pose", ca. 575.
Northern Qi dynasty
H: 33.0 W: 17.5 D: 15.4 cm
China

"This sculpture of a bodhisattva, or enlightened being, probably represents the Buddha of the Future (Maitreya in the Indian language Sanskrit) while he was waiting to be reborn into the world as a Buddha. Maitreya waits in heaven meditating beneath a Dragon Tree, which Chinese sculptors typically interpreted to be a ginkgo, like the tree here. The depiction of children emerging from lotuses in a pond on the base of this sculpture is a rare detail on an image of Maitreya."

Found at the website of  The Smithsonian's Museums of Asian Art.

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