Represented as a princely figure wearing a crown, garland and jewellery, this sculpture of Vishnu portrays the god standing in samabhanga, a serene, balanced standing pose, with the soft but athletic physique typical of Indian representations of divine males. As with other early sculptures of Vishnu, this figure once had four arms: two in front, holding a lotus seed and a conch shell, and two in back. The distinctive red sandstone was a favourite material of North and Central Indian sculptors for centuries.

This work can be compared with a closely related example at the Brooklyn Museum¹ as well as one at the Asian Art Museum in San Francisco² and a similar figure at the Art Institute of Chicago.³