The Smiling Boy is the companion bust to the Smiling Girl. Unlike the coy, almost self-conscious expression of the Smiling Girl, the features and the expression of joy on the Smiling Boy’s face is unrestrained and open. It seems as though his entire face breaks into laughter in a single instance captured in clay by the artist. There is no masking by etiquette, no holding back with restraint like the Smiling Girl. This is depictive of the societal norms and freedoms that were experienced differently by men and women in the Mauryan Period. Here too we find the evidence of elaborate styles of the Hellenistic Period in the headdresses worn by the men, which means that certain sophistication and the art of the dress in the Mauryan court were inspired by the Greeks.
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