Unknown
Two Sections of a Copestonecirca 50 BCE-5 CE

Not on view

Horizontal sandstone architectural relief in two fragments, carved with registers of animal processions, bead molding, and palmette borders

Artist or Maker: Unknown
Title: Two Sections of a Copestone
Place Made: India, Uttar Pradesh, Mathura region (?)
Date Made: circa 50 BCE-5 CE
Medium: Mottled red sandstone
Dimensions: (a) 6 1/2 x 39 3/4 x 5 1/4 in. (16.51 x 100.96 x 13.33 cm); (b) 6 1/2 x 25 1/2 x 5 1/4 in. (16.51 x 64.77 x 13.33 cm)
Credit Line: From the Nasli and Alice Heeramaneck Collection, purchased with funds provided by the Jane and Justin Dart Foundation
Accession Number: M.81.90.21a-b
Classification: Sculpture
Collecting Area: South and Southeast Asian Art
Curatorial Notes: These two fragments of a copestone, and several additional sections in the National Museum, New Delhi, Museum of Asian Art, Berlin (10092), and the Cleveland Museum of Art (2011.145), originally functioned as a top structural element of a railing (vedika) around a Buddhist or Jain funerary monument (stupa) in the Mathura region. See M.85.62, M.85.224.5, and a complete section of a comparable Mathura stupa railing in the Cleveland Museum of Art (1943.71). The decoration consists of a recessed frieze of animals (three lionesses and one ram) alternating with a honeysuckle motif. Above the frieze is a row of alternating bells and buds suspended from an astragal molding. Copestone b has an incomplete Prakrit inscription written in the Brahmi script. The complete inscription and translation have been published by Herbert Härtel. It reads, Caused to be made by Kashiputra Yashaka, the confidant of King Suryamitra, the son of Gopali. (Herbert Härtel, “Eine Mathura-Inschrift der vor-Kusana-zeit,” in Beiträge zur Indienforschung (Berlin: Museum für Indische Kunst, 1977).
Selected Bibliography: Pal, Pratapaditya. Indian Sculpture, vol.1. Los Angeles: Los Angeles County Museum of Art; University of California Press, 1986.
Rosenfield, John. The Arts of India and Nepal: The Nasli and Alice Heeramaneck Collection. Boston: Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, 1966.
Trabold, J. The Art of India, An Historical Profile. Northridge, CA: California State University Press, 1975.
Pal, Pratapaditya. In Pursuit of the Past: Collecting Old Art in Modern India, circa 1875-1950. Mumbai: Marg Foundation, 2015.
Little, Stephen, and Tushara Bindu Gude. Realms of the Dharma: Buddhist Art across Asia. Los Angeles: Los Angeles County Museum of Art, 2025.

Unknown
Two Sections of a Copestonecirca 50 BCE-5 CE

Not on view

Artist or Maker: Unknown
Title: Two Sections of a Copestone
Place Made: India, Uttar Pradesh, Mathura region (?)
Date Made: circa 50 BCE-5 CE
Medium: Mottled red sandstone
Dimensions: (a) 6 1/2 x 39 3/4 x 5 1/4 in. (16.51 x 100.96 x 13.33 cm); (b) 6 1/2 x 25 1/2 x 5 1/4 in. (16.51 x 64.77 x 13.33 cm)
Credit Line: From the Nasli and Alice Heeramaneck Collection, purchased with funds provided by the Jane and Justin Dart Foundation
Accession Number: M.81.90.21a-b
Classification: Sculpture
Collecting Area: South and Southeast Asian Art
Curatorial Notes: These two fragments of a copestone, and several additional sections in the National Museum, New Delhi, Museum of Asian Art, Berlin (10092), and the Cleveland Museum of Art (2011.145), originally functioned as a top structural element of a railing (vedika) around a Buddhist or Jain funerary monument (stupa) in the Mathura region. See M.85.62, M.85.224.5, and a complete section of a comparable Mathura stupa railing in the Cleveland Museum of Art (1943.71). The decoration consists of a recessed frieze of animals (three lionesses and one ram) alternating with a honeysuckle motif. Above the frieze is a row of alternating bells and buds suspended from an astragal molding. Copestone b has an incomplete Prakrit inscription written in the Brahmi script. The complete inscription and translation have been published by Herbert Härtel. It reads, Caused to be made by Kashiputra Yashaka, the confidant of King Suryamitra, the son of Gopali. (Herbert Härtel, “Eine Mathura-Inschrift der vor-Kusana-zeit,” in Beiträge zur Indienforschung (Berlin: Museum für Indische Kunst, 1977).
Selected Bibliography: Pal, Pratapaditya. Indian Sculpture, vol.1. Los Angeles: Los Angeles County Museum of Art; University of California Press, 1986.
Rosenfield, John. The Arts of India and Nepal: The Nasli and Alice Heeramaneck Collection. Boston: Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, 1966.
Trabold, J. The Art of India, An Historical Profile. Northridge, CA: California State University Press, 1975.
Pal, Pratapaditya. In Pursuit of the Past: Collecting Old Art in Modern India, circa 1875-1950. Mumbai: Marg Foundation, 2015.
Little, Stephen, and Tushara Bindu Gude. Realms of the Dharma: Buddhist Art across Asia. Los Angeles: Los Angeles County Museum of Art, 2025.