Lot 3604. A sandstone head of Buddha, Northern Qi Dynasty (550-577); 20.6 cm., 8 in. Estimate 400,000 — 600,000 HKD. Lot sold 650,000 HKD. Photo Sotheby's

sensitively carved with serene, naturalistic expression, the almond-shaped, hooded eyes well framed beneath arched brows, the aristocratic features intricately conveyed through the prominent well-formed nose, curved mouth and narrow lips, the hair dressed in rows of large, rounded curls, with a neat hairline curving down the sides of the face, revealing the elongated ears, the light grey stone of a smooth patina with traces of green, red and white pigments, black-stone stand. 

Note: This sublime and sensitively rendered sculpture is of a superlative quality, and can be placed in the context of other sculptures from the Tianlongshan Caves, Shanxi province, and most closely related to the sculpture from Cave 16, traditionally assigned to the Northern Qi dynasty. For a closely related Northern Qi head from Tianlongshan, Cave 16, see Osaka Municipal Museum ed., Chinese Buddhist Stone Sculpture: Veneration of the Sublime, Osaka, 1995, pg. 47, cat. no. 28. See also Harry Vanderstappen and Marylin Rhie, The Sculpture of T'ien Lung Shan: Reconstruction and Dating, parts 1 and 2, Artibus Asiae, volume XXVII, number 3, 1965, figs. 41, 45 and 48, all from Cave 16, and now preserved in the Eguchi Jiro Collection, Japan, The Nezu Collection, Tokyo and the British Museum, London.

Provenance: Wannieck collection, Paris.
A private collection, Belgium.
Eskenazi Ltd., London.

Exhibited: China Cultuur Vroeger en nu [Chinese culture past & present], Centrum voor Kunst en Cultuur [Centre for arts and culture], Gent, 1979, no. 292 (dated to the Sui dynasty).

Literature: Ancient Chinese Bronze and Sculpture, Eskenazi Ltd., London, 2005, cat. no. 8.

Sotheby's. Contemporary Literati — A Gathering, Hong Kong, 07 april 2014