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Auction: 14005 - Ancient, British and Foreign Coins and Commemorative Medals
Lot: 271

Gupta Empire, Samudragupta I, AV Dinar, 7.60g, lyre player, nimbate king seated left on a high-backed throne, playing a lyre, letter si on footstool below, ptah in field left, further legend to right, rev. Lakshmi seated on a stool left, holding garland and cornucopia, samudraguptah right (Bayana hoard plate VI, 3; cf. BMC Guptas 51; MAC 4788), tooled around king's figure, about very fine, scarce

The Guptas were exemplars of the oral traditions expressed in the vedas and the puranas and it is widely thought that Hindu art and culture reached its apogee under their patronage.
By the 4th century AD there was a clear definition of how a ruler should present himself to his subjects. Quite apart from being victorious in battle, a sponsor of lavish religious ceremonies and a virile lover, he also had to be perfectly formed and accomplished in the arts of music and poetry.
It is believed that coins of this type were produced to publicise Samudragupta's accomplishments in these fields, just as the 'lion slayer' types depict his bravery as a hunter, and the ashvamedha type his piety.

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Sold for
£3,200