Procession of Non-Buddhists (1–100 CE): Art, History and Details

Procession of Non-Buddhists (1–100 CE) is in the Cleveland Museum of Art collection.

The work and its context

The museum's open-access catalogue describes the work:

The naked figures may be followers of a non-Buddhist religion, such as the Jain or Ajivika. The figures with unusual hairstyles may be depictions of actors from a theatrical troupe. The mood of the procession is joyous, led by a bejeweled nude man clapping his hands to the accompaniment of a wind instrument.

Object facts

• Title: Procession of Non-Buddhists
• Date: 1–100 CE
• Culture: Pakistan, Gandhara, Buner area, early Kushan period
• Type: Sculpture
• Technique: schist
• Dimensions: Overall: 16 x 53 cm (6 5/16 x 20 7/8 in.)
• Collection: Indian Art - Kushan, Gandhara
• Department: Indian and Southeast Asian Art
• Accession number: 1930.328.3

A detail from the museum

A mason's mark incised at the far right would indicate the position where this panel should be placed in the monument.

Collection credit

Dudley P. Allen Fund

Further reading listed by the museum

• Hollis, Howard. C. “Indian Sculpture.” The Bulletin of the Cleveland Museum of Art, vol. 17, no. 10, 1930, pp. 190–198.
• Stites, Raymond S. The Arts and Man. New York: Whittlesey House, 1940.
• Lyons, Islay, and Harald Ingholt. Gandhāran Art in Pakistan. [New York]: Pantheon Books, 1957.

View the collection record

See the museum's photographs and full catalogue entry. Catalogue text is reproduced from the Cleveland Museum of Art's open-access data, with HTML formatting removed. This object and its supplied image are designated CC0.