Elegant sculptures such as this were created as offerings to Buddhist temples and monasteries or placed on family altars to solicit spiritual and physical well-being for their donors. According to an inscription on the back of the mandorla, or body halo, this gilded bronze Buddha was commissioned and dedicated by members of the Lo family in the sixth century.Buddhism originated in India in the fifth century BCE. By the first century CE, it had reached China along the trade routes. This sculpture represents Maitreya, a Buddha of the future. He raises his right hand in a gesture of reassurance; his left hand makes a sign of charity. Swirling flames and lotus and honeysuckle flowers enrich the mandorla behind him. The swooping rhythms of the garments and the mandorla’s surface and shape establish an upward movement, which would have been intensified by candlelight flickering over the burnished bronze surface.