J.J. Lally & Co., Oriental Art / New York City, New York

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Past Exhibition

Ancient Chinese Sculpture: Recent Acquisitions

March 14 - April 5, 2014

2.
A SMALL DARK GRAY STONE RELIEF HEAD OF A BODHISATTVA

From the Buddhist Cave Temples at Longmen
Northern Wei Dynasty, circa A.D. 500

the face of the deity simplified, elongated and narrow, with half-closed almond-shaped eyes under arched eyebrows joined at the bridge of the nose, the small mouth with full lips set in a ‘mystical smile,’ the wide plain flattened ears with long lobes, the hair swept up behind a high diadem, the surface showing extensive remains of pigment or chalky slip under a soot-blackened surface, the back sheared off unevenly, showing the characteristic dense fine-grained rock; with fitted stand made by Inaba.

Height 5 12 inches (14 cm)

Provenance

Formerly in the collection of the distinguished French art historian Élie Faure (1873 - 1937)

北魏 龍門菩薩頭像 高 14 厘米