Featured Help! 15" tall, heavy, brass/bronze(?) Deity(?) figure w/lotus & serpent around feet - signed!

I found this at my local thrift store today. I searched for it & saw similar but not mine & would have passed because of the price ($175!) until I saw what I believe is a signature! Which made me think this may be more than a figure sold by gift shops?

It is 15" tall & heavy. It also has a hollow bottom (that had spiders webs in it making me think it has some age.

Who is the figure? What is this/what was it used for?
Brass? Old?
Are the what looks like Characters a signature?

ANY help with this would be greatly appreciated.

 

Any thoughts on this? Is that a signature?
Did I overpay?

 

I Found It!! After posting above, I decided to do an image search with my computer instead of my phone (which I used at thrift store) and found this:

Sold Price: IMPORTANTE SCULPTURE EN BRONZE REPRESENTANT UN DIGNITAIRE ET UN DRAGON Ch - July 4, 0121 2:00 PM CEST (invaluable.com)

 

I did a google translation & it came up with this:

IMPORTANT BRONZE SCULPTURE DEPICTING A DIGNITARY AND A DRAGON CHINA Depicting a dignitary standing on a dragon holding a ruyi scepter in one hand. He is richly dressed and wears a headdress decorated with dragons fighting for the sacred pearl. Traces of polychromy (wear)

BUT, it says it's Height is 80cm which comes out to 31" - so I must have a copy? I think it's brass too, not bronze - is there a way to tell the difference?
And if the original is a "Important Sculpture Depicting a Dignitary and a Dragon" and this is a copy of it, then maybe the signature shows it was done by a known artist? (My thinking is it's by a known artist because the casting on mine was done so well + if it was a important piece they wouldn't let an unknown artist make a copy with their blessing would they?)

 

Sold for 700€, estimation was 800-1200€

 

I saw that. Now if I can find out who the artist was I'm goid!

 

Not even slightly in the same league as the linked one, which is worth that much



Think yours is just a decorative copy, sloppy signature

The Chinese aren't usually that concerned much with copyright infringement

 

There is a similar figure on ebay.

On the one on the French site I was admiring the details like the fringes of his sash hanging just above his foot.

Here is the ebay one
https://www.ebay.com/itm/1253801545...624&ssuid=&var=&widget_ver=artemis&media=COPY

 

Besides signature - which is partly out of sharpness because it's a phone camera - I think the details on it are ornate & sharp.
Although I'm going to be happy just getting my $175 back now - so much for it being a old tomb guard!

 

It appears to be mine - with the extra 2" in height attributed to the base?
It says it is bronze; is there a simple way to tell bronze from brass?
Thank you for the link!