Teaching Buddha

One year ago today, I was in San Francisco at the De Young Museum standing in front of this exquisite Gandhara, 2nd–3rd century, statue of a Teaching Buddha (schist with traces of gilt and pigment). To point out some of the finer details of the piece: "Holding his hands in the teaching gesture, the Buddha is seated on an inverted lotus throne supported by two elephants and a lion. He is flanked by a pair of columns with bull-shaped capitals that support a balcony of female figures, two figures kneeling by his head, a pair of bodhisattvas in niches on either side, and two parakeets atop the arch".  Lot going on here.