NORTHERN QI DYNASTY (550-577)

Although sculpture of the Northern Qi period shares with its Wei counterparts some stylistic similarities, the present lot is distinguished from Wei examples by the rounded face, delicate treatment of the features, and the manner in which the hair and usnisa are rendered. Compare the head of a seated Buddha depicted in a stone stele dated to the Northern Qi period (561 AD), illustrated in The Splendour of Buddhist Statues: Buddhist Stone Carvings in the Northern Dynasties, National Museum of History, Taipei, 1997, p. 175. On both the illustrated example and the present lot, the usnisa conforms to the shape of the head and is centered amidst the hair, which curves upward at the brow and is undecorated.