AN IRON HEAD OF BUDDHA

Details
AN IRON HEAD OF BUDDHA
KORYO DYNASTY (10TH CENTURY)

The large, complete head with face in meditative expression, with gently arching eyebrows and downcast eyes and framed by pendant ears, the tall usnisa covered by long, spiked spirals of hair and the brow cast with an urna, the wide neck with double fold ending irregularly- 14 in. (35.6 cm.)
Literature

Lot Essay

A very similar iron head of Buddha also dated to the Koryo Dynasty, 10th Century from the collection of Robert Moore is illustrated in Korean Culture, Vol. 7, no. 1, March 1986, colorplate 2, p. 18 'The Collection of Robert Moore, Part 2: Recent and Unpublished Acquisitions' by Julia F. Andrews; another 10th century iron head of Buddha is illustrated in Goepper, Whang and Whitfield, Kunstschatze aus Korea, Museum fur Kunst und Gewerbe Hamburg and Museum fur Ostasiatische Kunst der Stadt Koln, 1984-5, pl. 131 with footnote citing: 5000 Years of Korean art, Asian Art Museum of San Francisco, 1979-81, no. 104; Choi Sunu, Five Thousand Years of Korean Art, Seoul, 1979, pl. 241; Hwang Su-yong, Pulsang (Buddhist images), Hanguk ui mi, vol. 10, Seoul, 3rd ed., 1983