317 - STONE HEAD CHINA NORTHERN QI 6TH CENTURY

STONE HEAD CHINA NORTHERN QI 6TH CENTURY Dimensions: Height 19 cm Wide 12 cm Depth 13 cm Weight: 4297 grams with base A limestone head of the Buddha with gently downcast eyes, softly arched brows and a calm, restrained smile. Small rounded curls cover the domed head and rise toward the ushnisha, while the elongated earlobes frame the narrow face. Traces of coloured pigment survive on the weathered surface, offering a reminder that Buddhist stone sculpture was originally far more chromatic than its present appearance often suggests. The Northern Qi period was a decisive moment in the development of Chinese Buddhist sculpture, when earlier linear conventions increasingly gave way to softer modelling and an inward, contemplative expression. The smooth facial planes and quiet symmetry seen here are well suited to that devotional ideal, encouraging a direct visual focus on serenity rather than dramatic gesture. Now mounted as a fragment, the head preserves the monumental calm of a larger sacred image. Weathering, losses and encrustations interrupt the original finish but also reveal the history of the stone surface and heighten the contrast with the surviving traces of polychromy.