Thank you so much for starting this thread 
it’s truly inspiring and uplifting - a generator of spiritual joy 
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Venerable Patacara Bhikkhuni - at Anukampa Bhikkhuni Project
Santi Forest Monastery
at Delhi National Museum
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Hopefully it’s ok to share this under fair use. It’s in the Metropolitan Museum of Art in NYC. You can visit it here.
Title: Nun and Noble Female Devotee
Artist: L. T. P. Manjusri (Sri Lankan, 1902–1982)
Date: dated November 14, 1973
Culture: Sinhala
Medium: Watercolor on paper
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The statue itself isn’t the “most beautiful,” but I enjoyed the audio description so much I had to share 
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Can you explain this photo? Thank you!
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Your inspired Meditational observation is as good as mine. It seems a Way the Sangha Meditated on each other in a form of Zazen. The look of the Temple and black robes look Zen, which is a form of Buddhism that has it’s roots in the Theravada Doctrine.
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Period Kushan dynasty
Era 3rd-4th century CE
Place Gandhāra
Material Schist
Size Height 175 cm
Check out the 3D display here. The image rotates (which is great), and flies (which seems a tad disrespectful).
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Why? How is it disrespectful?
I felt my misinterpretation of a digital museum tool was disrespectful. The sight of the underside of the statue which I could manipulate at will didn’t inspire awe and respect, it merely made me laugh. Tho I can see the value to archeologists and other scholars. How did you react?
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Here in Thailand, Buddha statues are usually placed above the head: sometimes so high that all you can see is the underside! Every day, for example, I dry my almsbowl under a large, hollow Buddha. I take it as a symbol for emptiness. 
I was a bit disappointed by the low resolution. It’s still no substitute for seeing the real thing. But, as you say, it’s probably a nice tool for scholars and artists.
I do wonder what the Internet 2.0 version of a Buddhist temple might be like 
What do you think would be an appropriate / respectful / religious way to present Buddhist art online? For example, what do you think of this virtual tour of an Ajanta cave?
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Having lived in Asia I too am used to placing Buddharupas above the head. That is done from reverence, (maybe I can find a photo of my own bookcase). Taking control of the image and swirling it around felt like the opposite of reverence, more like the worst possible deployment of I, me and mine in fact.
Google Streetview teams get to go to some mighty interesting places!!
Small object have to be absolutely exquisite to impress. … I’m reflecting that size and space contribute grandeur and that digital means that are confined to small screens haven’t got to grips with this. They will need to be able to project images. This is coming I understand … soon we’ll be projecting movies onto the wall from our phones. The next step will be virtual reality headsets controlled from the phone, and then it’ll feel much more like being in Ajanta.
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I asked some monks in mainland China once if I could take photos of the statues. The answer I got was that it was totally fine as long as the photo was a normal full body shot. Like no zooming in or weird angles. They just wanted the photos to be taken respectfully. That seemed reasonable.
Sometimes with the statues from Gandhara, I think about the models and clothing styles. They had actual people who dressed up and modeled for the artists. And at least with the bodhisattvas and devas, we get to see some of the regional styles of clothing and ornamentation for wealthy people.
When I opened up the 3D visualization of that Buddha statue, I moved the camera back and forth so it looked like he was walking around, going out for alms, and saying hello to some people. We normally don’t get to see that. It would be neat if they had a version with reconstructed polychromy as well, so we could see the statue in full color. Example of original colors preserved on a Gandharan bodhisattva statue:
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