A GILT-BRONZE FIGURE OF KASHYAPA MING DYNASTY, 16TH / 17TH CENTURY |

the sage standing in flowing robes with relief-cast floral borders, open at the chest and gathered around the feet, the hands clasped with the proper right over the left, the bald pate with characteristic cranial bump and the benevolent face with bushy, furrowed brows, the eyes lowered in contemplation and a slight smile poised on the full lips, the discipline of an ascetic shown in the taut neck and pronounced elbow 

The Chang Foundation Collection.

Jintongfo zaoxiang tulu/Buddhist Images in Gilt Metal, Taipei, 1993, pl. 68.

Kasyapa, born into the Brahmin caste in the kingdom of Magadha, was already an octogenarian when he met the Historical Buddha. Depictions of this ascetic monk typically show his advanced age. Kashyapa and Ananda, both beloved followers of Gautama, are often portrayed together on either side of Shakyamuni. This arrangement is commonly found in caves in China dating from the Northern Wei dynasty, with a young Ananda to Buddha's right, and the elderly Kasyapa to the left, as seen in the Central Binyang Cave at Longmen, illustrated in Angela F. Howard, ed., Chinese Sculpture, New Haven, 2006, pl. 3.39. This standard iconographic arrangement continued through the Sui, Tang, Liao and Song periods, to present day.