Bodhisattva; Adoration of the Bowl

A stele statue depicting a bodhisattva, possibly Maitreya. The bottom face preserves a tenon. The back and bottom faces show tool marks. The bodhisattva is standing on a moulded base and with a cornice bearing a straight festoon with ovate leaves tried by a simple ribbon. The front face displays the Adoration of the Bowl. The scene is encased between a semi-column of the Gandharan-Corinthian type with a short flute on the shaft. Two male devotees with joined hands are crouching at the sides of the bowl. This latter is placed on a four-legged backless throne with turned legs and a drape hanging from the front. The bodhisattva was in abhayamudrā while the left hand possibly held the kamaṇḍalu, traces of which seem to be discernible over the proper left edge of the paridhāna. He has half-closed eyes, a pointed moustache, and a small mouth. The hair is rendered with horizontal rows of overlaid waves with curled locks falling onto the shoulders. The central knot is tied by a string of pearls at its base. The head is against a nimbus with a border of upright bordered ogival leaves, a plain fillet, and another fillet of pearls. He wears an uttarīya on the left arm, the frontal curve passes under the shoulder loop to end in a tassel hanging behind, leaving the paridhāna’s girdle exposed. The paridhāna falls in pointed ends. The thong sandals feature a linking disk in the shape of a rosette. The figure is adorned with a short flat band necklace decorated with a central rosette encased between two vertical fillets and a leaf pointing downwards, a long necklace with multiple strands and horned monster head endings facing a central stone, a long cross-piece to the right shoulder with multiple strands and a rosette, a crossed cord passing under the right armpit with kavacas, a lobed armlet on the right arm possibly decorated with rosettes, and ring-shaped earrings.