SANDSTONE HEAD OF BUDDHA.

CHINA.

PROBABLY FROM SHANXI PROVINCE.

NORTHERN SONG DYNASTY.

960 - 1127 AD.

H. 32 CMS, 12 ˝ INS.

An over life-sized pale sandstone head of Buddha, sensitively modelled with a benign, tranquil expression, the eyes cast downwards in meditation, the hair arranged in bands of snail shell curls rising to a domed usnisha; with traces of pigment in the recesses.

For a prototype of this style, dated to the Liao dynasty (1038), please compare with the painted clay figure of Buddha with attendants in the Huayan Temple (Datong, Shanxi Province) – see page 375 in A.F. Howard et al, Chinese Sculpture, Yale University Press, 2006.