Deeply and intricately carved this mottled red sandstone pillar features 4 vertically stacked architectural niches on two sides. On both sides, the top three niches are equal in size, while the bottom niche is larger. Each niche is flanked by columns and set above a lattice motif and below a carved decorative lintel. These architectural niches are typical of the period, and a similar example can be found in the Penn Museum Collection (number 29-69-3), which similarly depicts figures within architectural niches. 

On one side, the top three niches each contain a male and female couple interacting with one another in a variety of ways, as if in conversation. The bottom register features a male attendant wearing a transparent lower garment (antaravasaka) bound by a belt of strings. He wears an elaborate turban and looped over his left arm is a scarf (uttariya). He wears a short round necklace and a longer strand of beads that hangs on his chest in a v-shape. In his right hand he carries a fly whisk. These attributes are typical of attendant figures of the period and can also be seen in the Kushan stone sculpture of an Attendant Bearing a Fly Whisk in the Cleveland Museum of Art collection (Accession number 1965.472). 

On the other side, the topmost niche contains another couple, while the two niches below contain more elaborate scenes of three female figures, one of whom plays the flute and the other carries a bowl, while in the register below a female figure accompanied by an attendant and child adjusts an earring while looking into a mirror. The bottom register features another male attendant identically dressed to the attendant on the other side. In his right hand however he holds three lotus buds. 

The religious background of the pillar is not immediately recognisable from the image – pillars such as the present example were a major element of early Jain and Buddhist stupa sites, and Mathura itself was responsible for the production of Buddhist, Jain, Brahmanical art during the Kushan period.