Eastern Art Online, Yousef Jameel Centre for Islamic and Asian Art

Ashmolean − Eastern Art Online, Yousef Jameel Centre for Islamic and Asian Art

Indian Art in the Ashmolean Museum

A catalogue of the Ashmolean’s collection of Indian art by J. C. Harle and Andrew Topsfield (published Oxford, 1987).

Indian Art in the Ashmolean Museum by J. C. Harle and Andrew Topsfield

Publications online: 143 objects

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Copper harpoon from the Copper Hoard Culture

  • Literature notes

    Copper objects in the form of weapons, tools and implements have been found at sites scattered over most of India and Pakistan, but those indicating a "separate cultural identity", in the Allchins' phrase, a group to which the harpoon belongs, tend to come from Doab, between the Jumna and the Ganges and sites to the south and east; harpoons themselves have only been found in the Doab and at closely adjacent sites. They have nearly always been found in hoards (deposits of coincs or other objects purposely concealed and usually buried). The Museum also possesses a celt or axe head ([EA1954.66] - donated by Major General H. L. Haughton) from the largest of all these hoards, the mammoth deposit of 400 copper objects, accompanied by some silver, weighing in all 829 lbs. (376 kg.), found at Gungeria in Madhya Pradesh. The find-place of this harpoon is not known. The small lug or eyelet was to enable the head to be detached from the shaft and secured by a line.
    The relation of the "Copper hoard culture" to better known ones still presents problems although certain associations have made it possible to assign approximate dates to it. The principal uncertainty about the copper hoard objects remains their use; their excessive weight and often size would point to a non-utilitarian use, ritual perhaps or as objects of exchange or status symbols.
  • Description

    Objects of this kind are often found in hoard deposits in the Ganges Valley region. They may have been used as objects of ritual exchange or as symbols of social status.

  • Details

    Associated place
    AsiaIndianorth IndiaUttar Pradesh Ganges-Jumna doab (find spot (hoard))
    Date
    2500 - 1000 BC
    Material and technique
    copper
    Dimensions
    29.7 x 6 x 2 cm max. (height x width x depth)
    Material index
    Technique index
    formed cast
    Object type index
    No. of items
    1
    Credit line
    Presented by Douglas and Mary Barrett, 1986.
    Accession no.
    EA1986.13
  • Further reading

    Harle, J. C., and Andrew Topsfield, Indian Art in the Ashmolean Museum (Oxford: Ashmolean Museum, 1987), no. 3 on p. 4, p. 5, illus. p. 4

    Ahuja, Naman, ‘Early Indian Art at the Ashmolean Museum - Catalogue in progress’, 2016, no. 22.2

Location

    • Ground floor | Room 12 | India to 600

Objects are sometimes moved to a different location. Our object location data is usually updated on a monthly basis. Contact the Jameel Study Centre if you are planning to visit the museum to see a particular object on display, or would like to arrange an appointment to see an object in our reserve collections.

 

Publications online

  • Indian Art in the Ashmolean Museum by J. C. Harle and Andrew Topsfield

    Indian Art in the Ashmolean Museum

    Copper objects in the form of weapons, tools and implements have been found at sites scattered over most of India and Pakistan, but those indicating a "separate cultural identity", in the Allchins' phrase, a group to which the harpoon belongs, tend to come from Doab, between the Jumna and the Ganges and sites to the south and east; harpoons themselves have only been found in the Doab and at closely adjacent sites. They have nearly always been found in hoards (deposits of coincs or other objects purposely concealed and usually buried). The Museum also possesses a celt or axe head ([EA1954.66] - donated by Major General H. L. Haughton) from the largest of all these hoards, the mammoth deposit of 400 copper objects, accompanied by some silver, weighing in all 829 lbs. (376 kg.), found at Gungeria in Madhya Pradesh. The find-place of this harpoon is not known. The small lug or eyelet was to enable the head to be detached from the shaft and secured by a line.
    The relation of the "Copper hoard culture" to better known ones still presents problems although certain associations have made it possible to assign approximate dates to it. The principal uncertainty about the copper hoard objects remains their use; their excessive weight and often size would point to a non-utilitarian use, ritual perhaps or as objects of exchange or status symbols.
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