Foreigners and Non-Buddhists Drink, Dance, and Play Music, from a Buddhist Stupa Site
Unknown Artist
c. 100 CE
Medium
schist
Dimensions
49.6 × 150.5 cm · first section: 17.1 × 44.5 cm
Classification
Sculpture
Department
Indian and Southeast Asian Art
Museum
Cleveland Museum of Art
Credit
Dudley P. Allen Fund
Accession Number
1930.328
About this artwork
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 de...