diff --git a/CHANGELOG.md b/CHANGELOG.md
index e3963fa6..faf1a5ca 100644
--- a/CHANGELOG.md
+++ b/CHANGELOG.md
@@ -1,7 +1,9 @@
 # CHANGELOG.md
 
-## unrelease
+## unreleased
  - add support for postgres range types
+ - Added an `image_height` property to the card component so top images can be capped without stretching or upscaling.
+
 
 ## v0.39.1 (2025-11-08)
  - More precise server timing tracking to debug performance issues
diff --git a/examples/official-site/sqlpage/migrations/31_card_docs_update.sql b/examples/official-site/sqlpage/migrations/31_card_docs_update.sql
index d3a5f00c..e2b4fd96 100644
--- a/examples/official-site/sqlpage/migrations/31_card_docs_update.sql
+++ b/examples/official-site/sqlpage/migrations/31_card_docs_update.sql
@@ -18,6 +18,7 @@ INSERT INTO parameter(component, name, description, type, top_level, optional) S
         This is useful if you want to display a lot of text in the card, with many options for formatting, such as
         line breaks, **bold**, *italics*, lists, #titles, [links](target.sql), ![images](photo.jpg), etc.', 'TEXT', FALSE, TRUE),
     ('top_image', 'The URL (absolute or relative) of an image to display at the top of the card.', 'URL', FALSE, TRUE),
+    ('image_height', 'Maximum height in pixels for the top image. The image will scale down to fit this height without distorting or upscaling.', 'INTEGER', FALSE, TRUE),
     ('footer', 'Muted text to display at the bottom of the card.', 'TEXT', FALSE, TRUE),
     ('footer_md', 'Muted text to display at the bottom of the card, with rich text formatting in Markdown format.', 'TEXT', FALSE, TRUE),
     ('link', 'An URL to which the user should be taken when they click on the card.', 'URL', FALSE, TRUE),
@@ -58,9 +59,9 @@ INSERT INTO example(component, description, properties) VALUES
     ('card', 'A gallery of images.',
         json('[
             {"component":"card", "title":"My favorite animals in pictures", "columns": 3},
-            {"title": "Lynx", "description_md": "The **lynx** is a medium-sized **wild cat** native to Northern, Central and Eastern Europe to Central Asia and Siberia, the Tibetan Plateau and the Himalayas.", "top_image": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/d/d8/Lynx_lynx-4.JPG/640px-Lynx_lynx-4.JPG", "icon":"star" },
-            {"title": "Squirrel", "description_md": "The **chipmunk** is a small, striped rodent of the family Sciuridae. Chipmunks are found in North America, with the exception of the Siberian chipmunk which is found primarily in Asia.", "top_image": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/b/be/Tamias-rufus-001.jpg/640px-Tamias-rufus-001.jpg" },
-            {"title": "Spider", "description_md": "The **jumping spider family** (_Salticidae_) contains more than 600 described genera and about *6000 described species*, making it the largest family of spiders with about 13% of all species.", "top_image": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/a/ab/Jumping_spiders_%28Salticidae%29.jpg/640px-Jumping_spiders_%28Salticidae%29.jpg" }
+            {"title": "Lynx", "description_md": "The **lynx** is a medium-sized **wild cat** native to Northern, Central and Eastern Europe to Central Asia and Siberia, the Tibetan Plateau and the Himalayas.", "top_image": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/d/d8/Lynx_lynx-4.JPG/640px-Lynx_lynx-4.JPG", "image_height": 220, "icon":"star" },
+            {"title": "Squirrel", "description_md": "The **chipmunk** is a small, striped rodent of the family Sciuridae. Chipmunks are found in North America, with the exception of the Siberian chipmunk which is found primarily in Asia.", "top_image": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/b/be/Tamias-rufus-001.jpg/640px-Tamias-rufus-001.jpg", "image_height": 220 },
+            {"title": "Spider", "description_md": "The **jumping spider family** (_Salticidae_) contains more than 600 described genera and about *6000 described species*, making it the largest family of spiders with about 13% of all species.", "top_image": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/a/ab/Jumping_spiders_%28Salticidae%29.jpg/640px-Jumping_spiders_%28Salticidae%29.jpg", "image_height": 220 }
         ]')),
     ('card', 'Beautifully colored cards with variable width. The blue card (width 6) takes half the screen, whereas of the red and green cards have the default width of 3',
         json('[
diff --git a/sqlpage/sqlpage.css b/sqlpage/sqlpage.css
index aa34cb87..389b4e8d 100644
--- a/sqlpage/sqlpage.css
+++ b/sqlpage/sqlpage.css
@@ -22,6 +22,17 @@ td > p {
   margin-bottom: 0 !important;
 }
 
+.card-img-top-constrained {
+  width: auto;
+  max-width: 100%;
+  height: auto;
+  max-height: var(--sqlpage-card-image-height, none);
+  display: block;
+  margin-left: auto;
+  margin-right: auto;
+  object-fit: scale-down;
+}
+
 .text-secondary a {
   color: inherit;
   text-decoration: underline;
diff --git a/sqlpage/templates/card.handlebars b/sqlpage/templates/card.handlebars
index c9c2da53..6d6a6c06 100644
--- a/sqlpage/templates/card.handlebars
+++ b/sqlpage/templates/card.handlebars
@@ -38,7 +38,9 @@
                     <a href="{{link}}" style="text-decoration: inherit; color: inherit">
                 {{/if}}
                 {{#if top_image}}
-                    <img src="{{top_image}}" class="card-img-top" />
+                    <img src="{{top_image}}"
+                        class="card-img-top{{#if image_height}} mw-100 w-auto h-auto mx-auto{{/if}}"
+                        {{#if image_height}}style="max-height: {{image_height}}px;"{{/if}} />
                 {{/if}}
                 {{#if color}}
                     {{#if (not embed)}}