NORTHERN QI DYNASTY (550-577)

Details

A LIMESTONE HEAD OF A BODHISATTVA
NORTHERN QI DYNASTY (550-577)
The head is finely carved with a serene expression conveyed by the slight smile of the mouth and the lowered lids of the eyes below the gracefully arched brows. The hair is drawn up behind a crown centered by a jeweled plaque and tied with ribbons that trail down the sides to partially obscure the ears. The pale grey stone is finely grained.
13¼ in. (33.5 cm.) high, stand

Provenance

Christie's London, 5 June 1995, lot 102.

If you wish to view the condition report of this lot, please sign in to your account.

View condition report

Lot Essay

This finely carved head of a bodhisattva is similar to one of comparable size (15 in.) in The Metropolitan Museum of Art, illustrated in Chinese Buddhist Sculpture from the Wei through the T'ang Dynasties, National Museum of History, Taipei, 1983, pp. 134-5, where it is dated late Northern Qi. It was also illustrated by O. Sirén in Chinese Sculpture: From the Fifth to the Fourteenth Century, vol. II, 1925, (1988 ed.), pl. 476 B, where it is dated to the Tang dynasty and ascribed to Henan province. The 'jewel'-centered foliate plaque that centers the crown is very similar to that in the crown of the present head.

More from Fine Chinese Ceramics and Works of Art

View All