Help With Political Relevance of the Buddha in Sculpture

Okay, here's the problem basically- Any artistic representation of the human body is an artificial construct of determined by cultural need, function, desire of the person represented, or the imagination of the fabricator. Right?

Well, I have this sculpture of the Buddha I'm looking at, and I understand the symbology of it, e.g. cranial protuberance= wisdom, elongated earlobes= his renunciation of the material world, mudras or hand positions signifying gift giving, etc., and the lotus representing divinity, BUT

I can't understand it's relevance to the political, social, or cultural aspects of the time it was made (Northern Wei dynasty, circa 529 c.e.), much less the religious iconography of it.

Thoughts anyone?