TANG DYNASTY (AD 618-907)

The present head exhibits the same sharp, finely-arched brows and fleshiness of the face found in classic Tang depictions of Buddha, including the early 8th century gilt-bronze figure of Vairochana in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, illustrated by D. Leidy in Wisdom Embodied, New York, 2010, p. 97, no. 16. The protuberance found at the front of the head in the present figure is a purely Chinese rendering of the Buddha's iconography, and becomes especially prevalent during the Tang period. Compare with another stone figure dated to the Tang period, with the same configuration of hair and protuberance, illustrated in Zhongguo meishu quanji - Diasu Bian - 4 - Sui Tang Diaosu, Beijing, 1988, no. 78.