TANG DYNASTY (618-907), LONGMEN CAVES

Stylistically this head closely relates to other mid-Tang limestone figures from the Longmen caves. See two larger heads of Buddha (32.1 and 66 cm. respectively) in the Avery Brundage Collection, illustrated in Chinese, Korean and Japanese Sculpture, Asian Art Museum of San Francisco, Japan, 1974, pp. 212-5, nos. 104 and 106. Of particular note is the treatment of the hair, with both the illustrated examples and the present lot exhibiting two large whorls above the forehead and below a pronounced usnisa adorned with a third whorl. Another feature of this group is the relatively plump face, with deeply set eyes beneath high, arched eyebrows. These same features are also seen on a number of other examples from this group, illustrated in The Lost Statues of the Longmen Caves, Shanghai, 1993, pp. 49-59.