Museum Für Indische Kunst, Berlin

The hollow-cheeked, emaciated Buddha shown here was carved by a Gandharan artist in the third century C.E. Made of gray schist and only 5 inches high, it depicts the historical Buddha, Siddhartha (c. 563‒548 C.E.), while engaged in a fast—suggesting his renunciation of the world of the senses in favor of the world of the spirit (compare with photo of yakshi).