The iconography of this work, which is not fully understood, relates to identified images of enlightened beings in a pure-land paradise, including Buddhas of the past or future. As Buddhist doctrine extended the line of Buddhas beyond the historical Shakyamuni into the past and future, images depicted an enlarged pantheon and even the potential of the devout to become Buddhas in some future time.

Crowned figures seated on high stools in a mirror-image pose of reflection appear in several Buddhist reliefs of the second half of the 6th century from Northern China. The central figures in the niche are here flanked by standing bodhisattvas. Overhead, flying apsaras support swags of garlands housing a stupa, or reliquary, which frames three standing figures.