Figure Making an Offering

PAKISTAN

The Gandharan sculpture depicts a mustached standing figure carrying an offering bowl high in both hands. His crinkled hair is combed back neatly and he looks straight before him. The clothing is of the Central Asian type introduced to the area during the Kushan period (circa 1st–3rd century). The figure wears ear-rings and an aristocratic jeweled collar over a short tunic, the folds of which are indicated by simple incisions. His clothing is loosely secured at the waist by a belt decorated with geometric patterns. The legs are broken off above the knee, but the posture suggests that this was one of the figures representing devotees that decorated the base of a stupa.