NORTHERN WEI-NORTHERN QI DYNASTY, 6TH CENTURY

This large and finely carved stone head of Buddha is distinguished by the gently rounded face, delicate treatment of the features, and the dynamic manner in which the hair and ushnisha are rendered. Compare the grey stone buddha head dated Northern Qi, currently in a Taiwanese private collection, illustrated by Huang Yongchuan, Buddhist Stone Carvings in the Northern Dynasties, Taipei, 1997, pp. 120-21, no. 24, where the author notes that the facial expression on Northern Qi sculptures exude a strong sense of self-reflection and contemplation. Compare, also, a grey stone Buddha head from the Northern Qi dynasty with a similar facial expression in the collection of the Victoria & Albert Museum, illustrated in Hai-Wai Yi-Chen (Chinese Art in Overseas Collections, Buddhist Sculpture II), National Palace Museum, Taiwan, 1990, p. 63, no. 59.

However, the hair, rendered in wide stylized curls and the pronounced ushnisha of the present Buddha head, compares more closely to that found on Northern Wei examples. Compare the nearly identical rendering of the hair found on a standing figure of Buddha, dated to the Northern Wei dynasty, in The Freer Gallery of Art, illustrated ibid., p. 19, no 16.