Mathura art represents an important formative stage in the history of Indian art that gave impetus to other arts. Examine.

Mathura emerged as the new centre of art under the rule of the Kusana emperors – Kanishka , Huvishka and Vasudeva. The Mathura art represented an important formative stage in the history of Indian art. It is here that buddha images came out of the cocoon of symbolism and slowly was carved out in iconographic forms.
In many ways, Mathura school of art was a formative art which gave an impetus to other forms of art styles. Mathura represents an important formative stage in history of Indian art. It is here that one can fully observe the transition from symbolism to iconographic forms that were adopted later.
Further, the forms of Brahmanical deities became crystallised at Mathura for the first time. The influence of Buddha image of the Mathura school spread far and wide both in India and Central Asia, reaching the great art centre of China. For example, the Buddha images at Tiang-lung Shan in Shansiare so similar to the seated images of Mathura that they seem to be the work of an Indian artist well acquainted with the Mathura school.
Some of the master pieces of Mathura school include Vima Kadphises and Kanishka, Parkham Yaksa, Maholi Bodhisattva and seated Kubera.

Topics: GS-I: Indian Architecture