The Cleveland Museum of Art

Collection Online as of December 19, 2025

Front and back of a gold coin stamped with an image of a person on each side. One side shows a person standing, facing us but looking to our left, with a bow in their left hand and and arrow their right, against the rough edge of the coin. The other side shows a person seated facing us on a lotus flower, their head brushing up against the edge of the coin, details smoothed away.

Coin of Chandragupta II

c. 400 CE

India, Chandragupta II, Gupta Period, late 4th-early 5th century

gold
Diameter: 1.9 cm (3/4 in.)
Cornelia Blakemore Warner Fund 1977.62
Location: Not on view

Description

The rulers of the Gupta dynasty unified northern India under native rule for the first time since the Maurya empire (323-185 bc). The Guptas named themselves after Chandragupta, the founder of the Maurya dynasty. This coin of Chandragupta II, who ruled from around ad 380 to 415, depicts a divine archer holding a bow and arrow. On the reverse is the Indian goddess of good fortune, Shri, seated on a lotus.
  • ?–1977
    (Stolper Galleries, New York, NY, sold to the Cleveland Museum of Art)
    1977–
    The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH
  • Lee, Sherman E. “The Year in Review for 1977.” The Bulletin of the Cleveland Museum of Art, vol. 65, no. 1, 1978, pp. 2–43. Mentioned: no. 141, p. 43; Reproduced: no. 141, p. 31 www.jstor.org
    "Annual Report for 1977." The Bulletin of the Cleveland Museum of Art 65, no. 6 (1978): 177-215. Mentioned: p. 192 www.jstor.org
  • Year in Review: 1977. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (December 28, 1977-January 22, 1978).
  • {{cite web|title=Coin of Chandragupta II |url=false|author=|year=c. 400 CE|access-date=19 December 2025|publisher=Cleveland Museum of Art}}

Source URL:

https://www.clevelandart.org/art/1977.62