A limestone head of Guanyin


Tang DynastyThe Bodhisattva's face carved with serene expression, with downcast eyes a small mouth and long earlobes, the hair coiffured into a coiled chignon and set with a tiara, square marble base. 30.5cm (12in) high (2).
|Provenance: purchased in London in the 1960s, by repute, and thence by descentSee a larger but comparable limestone head of Guanyin, dated Tang Dynasty, sold at Sotheby's New York, 15 September 2010, lot 298. Also compare with a stylistically similar head from Longmen, illustrated in Ancient Chinese Buddhist Sculpture. The C. K. Chan Collection, Taipei, 1989, cat. no. 9.