A LARGE IRON HEAD OF BUDDHA

Details

A LARGE IRON HEAD OF BUDDHA
KORYO DYNASTY (10TH CENTURY)

Cast with face in meditative expression with downcast eyes below finely arched brows and framed by the long lobes of the ears, the high usnisa covered by tall, spiked coils of hair and the forehead cast with a smooth, round urna, the slender neck cast with a double-fold--14in. (35.5cm.) high

Lot Essay

For other Koryo iron heads of Buddha see Goepper, Whand and Whitfield, Kunstschatze aus Korea (Museum fur Kunst und Gewerbe Hamburg and Museum fur Ostiasiatische Kunst der Stadt Koln, 1984-5), pl. 131 with footnote which cites 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Hanguk ui mi, vol. 10 (Seoul, 3rd edition, 1983); Julia F. Andrews, 'The Collection of Robert Moore, Part 2: Recent and Unpublished Acquisitions' in Korean Culture, vol. 7, no. 1, March 1986, pl. 2, p. 18

Another iron head of Buddha dated to the 10th century was sold in these Rooms November 17, 1993, lot 75