Collection Online as of November 30, 2023

Dancers and Musicians from Phrygia

1–100 CE

Part of a set. See all set records

Pakistan, Gandhara, Buner area, early Kushan period

(AD 1–320)

Schist

Overall: 17.1 x 44.5 cm (6 3/4 x 17 1/2 in.)

Dudley P. Allen Fund 1930.328.1

Location

242A Ancient India

Fun Fact

The peaked hats they wear are called "Phrygian caps."

Description

The distinctive garments worn by the figures on this relief may identify them as people from the ancient region of Phrygia, in present-day central Turkey. They wear baggy tunics with trousers tied at the ankles and peaked caps. Three figures hold their feet and hands in postures of dancing, while a musician plays a stringed instrument similar to a lyre, and a percussionist keeps time on the drum clutched between his legs. The figure at the far right holds up an unidentified object.

This panel has tenons above and below to fit into a structure using no mortar. The scale of this panel suggests that it was installed as a stair riser.

Provenance

?–1930

(Spink & Son, Ltd., London, UK, sold to the Cleveland Museum of Art)

1930–

The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH

Citations

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

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: cat. no. 740 archive.org

Rosenfield, John M. The Dynastic Arts of the Kushans. Berkeley: University of California Press, 1967. Reproduced: fig. 58

Fabri, Charles Louis. Discovering Indian Sculpture: A Brief History. New Delhi: Affiliated East-West Press, 1970. Mentioned: p. 45; Reproduced: pl. 19, p. 31

Goldman, Bernard. “Parthians at Gandhāra.” East and West, vol. 28, no. 1/4, 1978, pp. 189–202. Reproduced: fig. 1, between pp. 200-201 www.jstor.org

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 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

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

Exhibition history

Exhibition of the Month: Music in Art. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (October 2, 1945-February 4, 1946).

Kushan Sculpture: Images from Early India. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (November 13, 1985-January 5, 1986).

Dancing to the Flute: Music and Dance in Indian Art
. Art Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney, Australia (organizer) (June 12-August 24, 1997).