Lot 857. Property from the Shorenstein Collection, San Francisco. A small limestone head of Buddha, Northern Qi-Sui dynasty, 6th century; 22.5 cm high, composite stand. Price realised USD 254,000 (Estimate USD 15,000 – USD 25,000). © Christie's Images Ltd 2025
 

Provenance: Paul Wang Collection, Michigan, before 1983.
Christie's New York, 5 June 1986, lot 104, and front cover.
Andrew Kahane Ltd., New York, June 1989, and thence by descent within the family.

Literature: National Museum of History, Chinese Buddhist Sculpture from the Wei through the Tang Dynasties, Taipei, 1983, p.129 and 131.

Exhibited: Taipei, National Museum of History, Chinese Buddhist Sculpture from the Wei through the Tang Dynasties, 1983.

Note: This sensitively carved head of Buddha likely comes from Shandong or Hebei province and is very similar to a Northern-Qi dynasty stone head in The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, illustrated by D. Leidy and D. Strahan in Wisdom Embodied, Chinese Buddhist and Daoist Sculpture in The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, 2010, p. 172, no. A12. Both the present head and the example in The Metropolitan Museum are of diminutive size and share stylistic similarities of the softly curving eyelids and mouth. See, also, a slightly larger stone head of Buddha (12 ¼ in.) sold at Christie’s New York, 18 March 2016, lot 1406, and one in the Rietberg Museum illustrated by H. Brinker and E. Fischer in Treasures from the Rietberg Museum, New York, 1980, p. 137, no. 51.

Christie's. Important Chinese Furniture and Works of Art, New York, 19 September 2025