The fragment is part of a narrative relief and represents three Brahmanic ascetics in the shelter of a rush hut above which we see the turbaned head of a fourth figure, probably a divinity. The brahmins, whose status was acquired at birth thanks to the caste system, constituted the dominant group of Indian Vedic society and were indispensable to the celebration of sacrifices to the gods. The elderly ascetic, with his hair gathered in a bun, is sitting on a mat in front of the fire and leaning on a long stick. He turns his gaze to the Buddha who was in the now missing part of the relief. The two standing figures are young novice Brahmins following their master. In the course of his life the Buddha had converted several brahmins, although he had initially followed their teachings before declaring himself opposed to the harsh privations to which ascetics underwent, considering them useless to the attainment of knowledge.

The monk, with his ocher monastic robe and shaved skull, has his face turned to the left, where the Buddha, to whom the figure was addressing, was originally supposed to be. The work still retains traces of polychromy on the dress and in various parts of the face. The character, which for the liveliness of the rendering ranks among the most successful stucco works, was originally part of a larger scene that decorated a chapel or a stūpa, the main Buddhist cult monument.

The false figured shelf originally decorated the base of the hemispherical part of a stūpa, the main Buddhist cult monument, which probably originates from the burial mound and could house the relics of the Buddha or his eminent disciples. The character depicted is a king of snakes, recognizable by the reptile present behind his neck. In his left hand he holds a flap of his shawl while in the missing right he had to hold an offering (flowers?) Addressed to the Buddha of which the stūpa is a symbol. The royal figure is richly adorned with jewels and wears a turban and is also supported by a half-length genius whose face is inspired by the iconography of the classic Silenus. The kings of snakes (nagaraja) were semi-divine beings particularly revered on a popular level and welcomed by Buddhism which depicts them as devotees of the master.

The fragment, which originally decorated the tambu

Characteristic of the art of Gandhara is the depiction in human form of the Buddha, the "Enlightened One". He, wearing the monastic robe, is depicted standing while making the gesture of "reassurance" with the palm of his missing right hand facing the viewer and the left holding a flap. The halo behind his head, almost completely lost, is a sign of the luminous radiation of the Buddha. The character is clearly identifiable thanks to the presence of two of the thirty-two main physical signs that the Buddha presented at birth and that indicated his nature as predestined to become an "Enlightened One": the "circle" in the center of the forehead and the protuberance (rendered as bun of hair), at the top of the head. The elongated lobes allude to the heavy gemstone earrings that Prince Siddhartha wore before leaving his father's palace. The serenity of the gaze expresses the concept of the imperturbability of the "Awakened" (this is the meaning of the term Buddha) now extinct in Nirvana after having reached the supreme knowledge. The statue, originally gilded, was probably placed inside a chapel of worship in a sacred Buddhist area. On the base are also well recognizable four monks in adoration of the Buddha's alms bowl preserved as relics of the master under a canopy.

The work retains various traces of color, and is clearly identifiable as a Buddha's head thanks to the presence of the circle between the eyebrows, one of the thirty-two main signs that characterized it since its birth. The absorbed gaze and the relaxed expression of the mouth in a slight smile underline the state of inner peace and total detachment reached by the Buddha in nirvāņa, an event that causes the complete extinction of craving and illusion (ignorance).