The Cleveland Museum of Art

Collection Online as of April 25, 2024

Foreigners and Non-Buddhists Drink, Dance, and Play Music, from a Buddhist Stupa Site

Foreigners and Non-Buddhists Drink, Dance, and Play Music, from a Buddhist Stupa Site

c. 100 CE
schist
Overall: 49.6 x 150.5 cm (19 1/2 x 59 1/4 in.); First Section: 17.1 x 44.5 cm (6 3/4 x 17 1/2 in.); Second Section: 16.5 x 53 cm (6 1/2 x 20 7/8 in.); Third Section: 16 x 53 cm (6 5/16 x 20 7/8 in.)
Dudley P. Allen Fund 1930.328
Location: 242A Ancient India

Did You Know?

Wine cups made of silver were also used as Buddhist reliquaries in this region.

Description

These three relief panels are from a group thought to have been used as ornamental stair risers at a Buddhist monument. They may have led up to a platform on which was established a stupa for veneration by followers of Buddhism.

Phrygians with their trousers, tunics, and conical caps play music, dance, and clap, while Greek figures drink and carry wine. Naked figures and those wearing flowing robes and unusual hairstyles may be representatives of non-Buddhist sects, such as Jainism or the now defunct Ajivika religion. Bacchanalian scenes involving the ethnic and religious "other" were carved on the lower portions of public monuments in this multicultural region through which many international travelers passed during this time of heightened trade with the Mediterranean world.
  • ?–1930
    (Spink & Son, Ltd., London, UK, sold to the Cleveland Museum of Art)
    1930–
    The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH
  • Hollis, Howard. C. “Indian Sculpture.” The Bulletin of the Cleveland Museum of Art, vol. 17, no. 10, 1930, pp. 190–198. Mentioned: pp. 190-93; Reproduced: p. 197 www.jstor.org
    Stites, Raymond S. The Arts and Man. New York: Whittlesey House, 1940. Reproduced: fig. 416b, p. 501
    Rowland, Benjamin. “Gandhara, Rome and Mathura: The Early Relief Style.” Archives of the Chinese Art Society of America, vol. 10, 1956, pp. 8–17. Mentioned and Reproduced: fig. 1, p. 10 20066979
    Lyons, Islay, and Harald Ingholt. Gandhāran Art in Pakistan. [New York]: Pantheon Books, 1957. Mentioned and Reproduced: pp. 26, 160, pl. IV, no. 1
    The Cleveland Museum of Art. The Cleveland Museum of Art Handbook. Cleveland, OH: The Cleveland Museum of Art, 1958. Mentioned and Reproduced: cat. no. 740 archive.org
    The Cleveland Museum of Art. Handbook of the Cleveland Museum of Art/1966. Cleveland, OH: The Cleveland Museum of Art, 1966. Reproduced: p. 228 archive.org
    Rosenfield, John M. The Dynastic Arts of the Kushans. Berkeley: University of California Press, 1967. Reproduced: fig. 58
    The Cleveland Museum of Art. Handbook of the Cleveland Museum of Art/1969. Cleveland, OH: The Cleveland Museum of Art, 1969. Reproduced: p. 228 archive.org
    Fabri, Charles Louis. Discovering Indian Sculpture: A Brief History. New Delhi: Affiliated East-West Press, 1970. Mentioned: p. 45; Reproduced: pl. 19, p. 31
    The Cleveland Museum of Art. Handbook of the Cleveland Museum of Art/1978. Cleveland, OH: The Cleveland Museum of Art, 1978. Reproduced: p. 287 archive.org
    Goldman, Bernard. “Parthians at Gandhāra.” East and West, vol. 28, no. 1/4, 1978, pp. 189–202. Reproduced: fig. 1, between pp. 200-201 29756456
    Neils, Jenifer. “The Twain Shall Meet.” The Bulletin of the Cleveland Museum of Art, vol. 72, no. 6, 1985, pp. 326–359. Reproduced: p. 335, fig. 14-15 www.jstor.org
    Czuma, Stanislaw J., and Rekha Morris. Kushan Sculpture: Images from Early India. Cleveland, OH: The Cleveland Museum of Art in cooperation with Indiana University Press, 1985. Mentioned: pp. 172-174; Reproduced: cat. no. 87, p. 173
    The Cleveland Museum of Art. Handbook of the Cleveland Museum of Art. Cleveland, OH: The Cleveland Museum of Art, 1991. Reproduced: p. 16 archive.org
    Masselos, Jim, Jackie Menzies, Pratapaditya Pal, and Reis Wenger Flora. Dancing to the Flute: Music and Dance in Indian Art. Sydney, Australia: Art Gallery of New South Wales, 1997. Mentioned and Reproduced: cat. no. 50a, p. 107
    Kurita, Isao 栗田功. Gandhāran art [ガンダ-ラ美術 = Gandāra bijutsu]. Vol. 2. The world of the Buddha [佛陀の世界 = Budda no sekai] Tōkyō: Nigensha, 2003. Mentioned and Reproduced: p. 186, figs. 534 & 535
  • Kushan Sculpture: Images from Early India. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (November 13, 1985-January 5, 1986).
    India's Art. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (December 2, 1949-January 22, 1950).
    Exhibition of the Month: Music in Art. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (October 2, 1945-February 4, 1946).
  • {{cite web|title=Foreigners and Non-Buddhists Drink, Dance, and Play Music, from a Buddhist Stupa Site|url=false|author=|year=c. 100 CE|access-date=25 April 2024|publisher=Cleveland Museum of Art}}

Source URL:

https://www.clevelandart.org/art/1930.328