Sivagan's Feasting, Gupta Period, New Delhi, National Museum

Female figures were the object of much admiration and attention on the part of Mathuran sculptures [sic] in the Kushan period, and their beauty is even more greatly refined by the Guptan artists, Yakshi figures, necessary sculptural additions to stupas, were the physical prototypes for most female images whatever their specific roles happened to be, In our slide, an interesting female and child (or dwarf, possibly) group is shown, supposedly participants at a feast, The female is a Yakshi type with less adornment, however, and in a less exotic frame of mind, The treatment of the stone in this case bears resemblance to earlier Kushan sculpture, which based its planning of the sculptured planes on geometrically treated units: note the facial features and hair in this respect, Overall, though, the body is not rigid and is handled quite plastically for its particular pose