The foundation of the Gupta Empire in the 4th century A.D. marks the beginning of the classical phase of sculpture in the Indian subcontinent. In the Gupta period, all the trends and tendencies of the artistic pursuits of the preceding phases reached their culmination. Gupta sculpture is the logical outcome of the early classical sculpture of Amaravati and Mathura. In the Gupta period, sculptures made an attempt to establish a closer harmony between art and thought, between the outer and inner intellectual and spiritual conception of the people making it models of Indian art for the following centuries:

• Gupta-era Buddha sculptures, as many scholars have suggested, evolved out of the Gandhara and Mathura styles. Some of representative forms of this era could be found at the Dhamek stupa at Sarnath, and at Buddhist caves in Ajanta and Ahichchhatra.
• Sculptures in temples also display the style of the Gupta era. Vishnu sculptures in Udayagiri rock-cut Caves, and Dasavatara Temple in Deogarh are some prominent examples of this time. Bhitargaon in Uttar Pradesh is one of the most complete surviving Gupta temples.
• A geographical survey of Gupta art reveals that almost every center received the flow of the essence of this golden age. The dynasties that ruled after the Gupta age in north and south India imbibed the artistic elements of the Gupta age and continued the tradition of idealistic beauty.
• In Ajanta, the rock surface was sophisticatedly treated with the Buddhist theme and motifs in high relief. The relief was executed with the utmost skills. The halo of Buddha and the decorative elements on the large-sized sculptures and stupas show the mastery of artists over the stone carving.
• The three-dimensional effect is achieved in all rounded sculptures of the Gupta age. For making rounded sculptures the Gupta artists used stone, clay, wood, and bronze. These sculptures are highly expressive and charming. Such practices were witnessed in sculptures of Varaha and Vishnu at Udayagiri Caves and Dasavatara temple respectively.

By approximately 380 AD, the Gupta empire had expanded to include a number of smaller kingdoms to the east (into what is now Myanmar), all territories north to the Himalayas (including Nepal), and the entire Indus Valley region to the west. Thus, sculptures of the Gupta period also served as ideas for sculptures beyond the boundaries of present-day India :

• In terms of intercultural influence, no style had a greater impact on East and Central Asian Buddhist arts than that developed in Gupta-era India. This inspired Sherman E. Lee to refer to the style of sculpture developed under the Guptas as “the International Style.”
• Scholars believe that portable Gupta-period Buddhas, carried by pilgrims back to their homelands, played a role in the development of the Buddha image in the art of East and Southeast Asia. The Gupta Buddha would also influence later images of the Buddha in South Asia.
• In Sri Lanka, the Mithuna figure from the Isurumuniya Monastery of Anuradhapura is a well-known example of Gupta influence.
• Most of the Southeast Asian sculptural traditions were heavily influenced by the style of the Gupta Empire in India. The finished mastery in execution and the majestic serenity of expression of the image of Buddha came to be adopted and locally modified in Siam, Cambodia, Burma, Java, Central Asia, China, and Japan.
• Buddhist art in Thailand was shaped both by direct contact with Indian traders and the expansion of the Mon Kingdom.
• The Indic civilization of Champa flourished along the coast of what is now central and southern Vietnam from 500 CE onward.
• They created freestanding sandstone sculptures in the round as well as high and bas-relief carvings of sandstone, which was one of the prominent features of Gupta sculpture.
• In the Bamiyan region of Afghanistan, scholars have discerned stylistic influences from Gupta India and Sassanian Iran, as well as Hellenistic artistic styles.

The Gupta Sculptural era symbolizes a tradition where techniques of art were perfected, definite types were evolved, and ideals of beauty were formulated with precision. There was no more groping in the dark, no more experimentation. A highly developed aesthetic sense and masterly execution by skilled hands produced those remarkable images that were the ideal of the artists of subsequent ages in as well as beyond India.