6TH/7TH CENTURY

This finely carved head of Buddha may be compared to the head illustrated in The Art of Contemplation - Religious Sculpture from Private Collections, The National Palace Museum, Taipei, 1997, p. 135, no. 40, and the head in The Metropolitan Museum of Art, illustrated in Zhongguo liu shi hai wai fo jiao zao xiang zong he tu mu (Comprehensive Illustrated Catalogue of Chinese Buddhist Statues in Overseas Collections), vol. 3, Beijing, 2005, p. 492, both of which are dated to the Northern Qi dynasty. A similar delicacy in the carving of the facial features and the same serene expression can also be found on the head dated to the Sui dynasty illustrated in The Splendour of Buddhist Statuaries: Buddhist Stone Carvings in the Northern Dynasties, National Museum of History, Taipei, 1997, p. 29, no. 54.