Fragment showing an attendant figure

This attendant figure would have been part of a sculpture showing a seated Buddha image flanked by two attendants. He wears an elaborate turban and heavy earrings and carries a fly whisk, as would an attendant of an ancient Indian king. The identity of such figures is not certain; they may have been thought of as bodhisattvas.

Museum collections all over the world include many broken sculptures. Usually no one knows how they got broken. The building they were originally in may have collapsed, they may have been toppled in an earthquake, or they may have been damaged by vandals or robbers.