Relief depicting Western paradise

The spectacle of the Western Paradise was presided over by Amitabha sitting in a meditative position, accompanied by two bodhisattvas, one holding a lotus bud and the other a medicine vase. Heavenly creatures such as the cranes and geese below, and flying apsara in the foreground above add to the atmosphere of exultation. The carved inscription on the back reads "in the forty-sixth year (1615 AD) first month, seventeenth day of the Wanli period, the Chan monk Hai Feng's disciple and his grandsons Miao Lu and Miao Fu (dedicated this piece), (Made in) Tongji village in Yangcheng county by liuli craftsmen Qiao Yongfeng and his sons Qiao Changzheng and Qiao Changyuan." The upper four sentences, each containing four characters, describe the highest of the nine stages of birth in the Pure Land. The term liuli, still used to refer to earthenware or stoneware today, usually referred to architectural materials with low-fired glazes in two or more colors. The hard clay of this piece, glazed in green, turquoise-blue, and purple, illustrates exactly the Shanxi liuli work of the period.