This clay head and torso was found in Murtuk, an area within the Turpan region, an important political and cultural center on the Silk Road, located in the northeast corner of the Taklamakan Desert. The back has a wooden extension that proves that the figure was originally mounted on a wall. The round face is delicately described, with distinctively arched eyebrows, slender eyes like apricot pits, and the prominent bridge of the nose. The crowding of the eyes, nose, and mouth in the center of the face is very characteristic of Central Asian sculptures. The entire surface of the figure was originally painted, like other Buddha’s heads excavated in Turpan, but most of the paint has now worn away. Still, some white paint remains on the face and the chest, and there is black paint in the depressions around the hair. Green paint is still visible on the chest, particularly in the ridges of an incised whirlpool design, which probably represented a suit of armor.