Sotheby's. Fine Chinese Ceramics & Works of Art, New York, 31 mars 2005
A rare sandstone head of a Buddha, Northern Wei dynasty (386-534)
Lot 87. A rare sandstone head of a Buddha, Northern Wei dynasty (386-534). Estimate 30,000 — 40,000 USD. Lot sold 78,000 USD. Photo: Sotheby's.
the elongated face with eyes downcast, the curve of the lids defined by crescent-shape lines, below gracefully arched brows, the long nose with slightly flared nostrils and the corners of the mouth lifted in a beatific expression, the hair swept up behind the pendulous ears into a simple domed ushnisha, the grainy stone of mottled grey color, (stand); 16 in., 40.6 cm
Provenance: From a private New York Estate.
Note: The carving style of this head is characteristic of the style of the Yungang caves near Datong in Shanxi province, which were largely constructed between AD 398 and 494, when Pingcheng, modern Datong, was capital of the Northern Wei period. Several Buddha figures with similar features can be seen in niches of Cave 5 and in a frieze above the main figures of Cave 7 at Yungang, see Zhongguo shiku: Yungang shiku, Beijing, 1998, pls.41 and 45, 144 and 145, where the delicate incised lines defining the eyes can be seen, for example, on figures of Cave 6 and 8, ibid., pls.125, 177 and 178. Compare a sandstone head of a Buddha from the Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art with similar features but a slightly different treatment of the eyes in Handbook of the Collection, 1993, p. 303 and another sandstone head with a broader face and rounded ushnisha sold in our London rooms, July 11, 1978, lot 35. A complete standing figure with a similar head, in the Musée Guimet, Paris, is published in Chinese Art in Overseas Collections: Buddhist Sculpture, vol.II, Taipei, 1990, pl.9.
Head of a Buddha, ca. 490 C.E. Coarse sandstone, 15 x 7 x 8 in. (38.1 x 17.78 x 20.32 cm). Purchase: William Rockhill Nelson Trust, 31-83 © Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art.