Page 66 - Fine Chinese Art Bonhams London May 2018

59
A WHITE MARBLE HEAD OF BUDDHA
Northern Qi Dynasty
Carved with a serene and meditative countenance
highlighted by a pair of downcast eyes, pursed lips
and pendulous ears, framed by tight curls densely
covering the head, some elements possibly later
recarved, mounted.
29cm (11 3/8in) high. (2).
£5,000 - 8,000
CNY45,000 - 71,000
北齊 大理石佛陀頭像

60 *
A RARE GREY LIMESTONE STONE HEAD
OF BUDDHA
Northern Wei Dynasty, possibly Longmen
Carved with a benign expression modelled with
almond-shaped eyes in meditation, pronounced
brow ridges and pursed lips, the elongated face
flanked by a large pair of pendulous earlobes, all
beneath hair tied in rippled strands surmounted
by a prominent ushnisha, fitted stand.
35.5cm (14in) high
£20,000 - 30,000
CNY180,000 - 270,000
北魏 石灰岩佛陀頭像

Provenance: acquired in Paris prior to 1980,
by repute

來源： 據傳於1980年前購自巴黎

The distinctive features characterising the present
sculpture, such as the long and narrow head, the
arching brows, the broad nose and hair neatly
arranged over the ushnisha, closely resemble those
depictions of the Buddha Maitreya executed at
Longmen, Henan Province, from the Northern Wei
period. According to both Mahayana and Theravada
Buddhism, Maitreya is regarded as the Buddha of
the Future and believed to reside in Tushita Heaven,
where devotees seek to be reborn after death.
59 Longmen is a large Buddhist site consisting of
hundreds of cave temples whose magnificence is
largely attributed to the patronage of the site by the
foreign Tuoba rulers of North China between 386
and 535 AD.

Compare with a similar stone head from the
Longmen site, Northern Wei dynasty, illustrated
by R.Y.Lefebvre d’Argencé, Chinese, Korean,
and Japanese Sculpture: The Avery Brundage
Collection, San Francisco, 1974, pl.30; another
similar example is illustrated by S.Di, Comprehensive
Illustrated Catalogue of Chinese Buddhist Statues in
Overseas Collections, vol.1, Beijing, 2005, p.167.

For details of the charges payable in addition to the final Hammer Price of each Lot
64 | BONHAMS please refer to paragraphs 7 & 8 of the Notice to Bidders at the back of the catalogue.