Longmen Grottoes
Berthold Laufer (1912: 339) believed the first Chinese representation of a "ruyi" was in an 8th-century Mañjuśrī painting by Wu Daozi, which showed it held in his right hand taking the place of the usual sword. Laufer noted the artistic similarly between the curved handle of a "ruyi" and the long stem of a lotus blossom, which was frequently depicted in the hands of Bodhisattvas, e.g., the Longmen Grottoes.