Lot 3650. A limestone seated Sakyamuni Buddha with inscribed lotus pedestal, Tang dynasty, Gaozong period, dated in accordance with 670; 93.5 cm., 36 3/4 in. Estimate 400,000 — 600,000 HKD. Lot sold 937,500 HKD. Photo: Sotheby's

the deity seated in dyanasana with the right hand (now missing) probably raised in abayamudra and the left resting on his bent knee, dressed in loose fitting robes opened at the chest and held in place by a tassle over his left shoulder, the serene face with slender eyes downturned in contemplation, framed by long pendulous earlobes and a head of tight curls, backed by a rounded mandorla rising from behind the shoulders, all seated on a lotus base, and an inverted hexagonal tiered pedestal with oval beaded panels within the bead-framed sides, joined to a circular collar carved with six round faces each enclosed by a circular frame, all supported on a two-tiered base similarly decorated with oval beaded panels and a band of petal lappets, the foot skirted by a long inscription encircling the entire circumference, written in regular script dated Zongzhang san nian zheng yue yi ri ('the first day of the first month in the third year of the Zongzhang period', corresponding to 670).

Provenance: The China Bohlken collection, Berlin, formed by Theodor Bohlken (1884-1954).

Note: The full-fleshed opulence of this head with its concisely rendered idealised features fully relates to high Tang style. For a Tang dynasty stone stele carved with similar iconography of Sakyamuni Buddha seated on a lotus throne, see the example dated in accordance with 660, sold in our New York rooms, 19th March 2007, lot 93, from the Concordia House collection. See also a smaller marble figure of Sakyamuni of similar iconography, sold in our New York rooms, 23rd March 2004, lot 624.

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