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Expert’s note
The present sculpture originates from the region surrounding Northern Wuzhuang and Xiangtangshan in southern Hebei, one of the most important centers of Buddhist sculpture production in medieval China. This attribution was verbally confirmed to the present owner by a senior scholar at the Xiangtangshan Grottoes Research Institute. The Institute has also extended an invitation to lend the sculpture for a future exhibition, should the new owner wish to do so.
Furthermore, the attribution is compellingly supported by the sculpture’s material, iconography, and distinctive physiognomy. The elongated oval face, softly swelling cheeks, continuous sweep of the brows into the narrow nose, delicately lowered eyelids, full lips, smooth hair, and monumental openworked crown all belong to the refined sculptural language developed around Xiangtangshan and the Northern Qi capital of Yecheng in southern Hebei. At 42 cm height, the head must originally have belonged to a monumental bodhisattva figure, probably exceeding life size.
The Buddhist cave-temples of Xiangtangshan were created principally under Northern Qi patronage near the dynasty’s capital at Yecheng. Large-scale removal of their sculptures began around 1909 amid the political upheavals attending the end of the Qing dynasty, and fragments from the caves began appearing in overseas museum and private collections by 1913. Sculptures removed between circa 1910 and 1930 passed predominantly through the international network of C. T. Loo, while Edgar Worch and Yamanaka & Company also handled works from the site. Overall, many hundred, possibly even more than a thousand individual sculptures and sculptural fragments were removed from the caves.
The surface history of the present head provides further support for its origin in a protected cave setting and its early removal from that context. The stone displays a naturally aged and strongly developed surface patina, including extensive smoothing and wear consistent with prolonged exposure and repeated handling or contact. At the same time, there is no deep weathering penetrating the stone of the kind typically associated with long-term outdoor exposure to storm, rain, frost, and repeated freeze-thaw cycles. This combination—a heavily aged and worn surface without corresponding deep deterioration of the stone—is entirely consistent with a sculpture that remained for centuries within the sheltered environment of a grotto. The near absence of earthen or mineral accretions further suggests that the head was never buried for any significant period. Considered together with the documented dispersal of Xiangtangshan sculpture and the reported history of the present head, its surface therefore supports the possibility that it was removed from its original cave setting long ago and subsequently preserved above ground, probably entering the United States through one of the aforementioned dealer networks during the early twentieth century.
The regional picture was further transformed in 2012 by the excavation at Beiwuzhuang, within ancient Yecheng, of 2,895 Buddhist sculptures and fragments, principally dating from the Eastern Wei and Northern Qi dynasties. Among these is the bodhisattva head now in the Yecheng Archaeological Museum, reference number 2012JYNH1:459 (fig. 1), which provides a remarkably close excavated parallel to the present sculpture. The two heads share the same profoundly contemplative expression, softly rounded modeling, finely curved eyelids, full bow-shaped lips, tall coiffure, and elaborate crown. Equally significant is the limestone head of Mahasthamaprapta from Caves 4–6 at Southern Xiangtangshan, now in the National Museum of Asian Art, Smithsonian Institution, accession number F1916.346a-b (fig. 2). Its vase-fronted crown, elongated proportions, smooth hair, downcast eyes, and subtly animated lips correspond closely with the present sculpture. Together, these comparisons place the head firmly within the sculptural tradition of Xiangtangshan and the wider Yecheng region.
China, Hebei province. Superbly carved in the round, the serene elongated oval face exquisitely modeled with broad arched brows sweeping toward a long straight nose with gently flared nostrils. The slender undulating eyes are almost closed in meditation, while the full bow-shaped lips form the suggestion of a benevolent smile. The smooth hair is drawn into a tall chignon and encircled by a beaded diadem, its imposing openworked central crest carved with a precious vase framed by a beaded oval and surrounded by scrolling foliate elements. The back of the neck with an oval recess.
Provenance: Collection of Patrick Mak, United States, acquired in the late 1990s from an estate sale in the southern United States. A noted private collector from Japan, acquired from the above. A copy of a provenance declaration written and signed by Patrick Mak, dated 25 July 2024, and confirming the above, accompanies the lot. Patrick Mak is a Chinese American collector and sculptor and the founder of Little Meditation Studio, a private collection devoted to the study and appreciation of early Chinese Buddhist sculpture. His collecting has focused principally on Northern Dynasties stone sculpture, particularly works of the Eastern Wei and Northern Qi periods.
Condition: Very good condition, commensurate with age. Expected wear, signs of old weathering and erosion, nicks, chips, losses, fine structural fissures, remnants of gilding and polychrome pigments, and only minimal surface accretions.
Weight: 22.3 kg (excl. stand)
Dimensions: Height 42 cm (excl. stand), 57.3 cm (incl. stand)
Mounted on a modern stand. (2)
The precious vase at the center of the crown identifies the figure as Mahasthamaprapta, the Bodhisattva of Wisdom. Together with Avalokiteshvara, the Bodhisattva of Compassion, Mahasthamaprapta forms the principal pair of attendants flanking Buddha Amitabha in the Western Triad. Devotion to Amitabha and his Pure Land flourished in China during the sixth century, contemporaneous with the construction of the Xiangtangshan caves. The vase-fronted crown was Mahasthamaprapta’s distinguishing attribute and appears on several figures and heads associated directly with the Southern Xiangtangshan caves. The profound stillness of the present face, intensified by its almost closed eyes and barely perceptible smile, embodies the deity’s wisdom and spiritual power with exceptional clarity.
Although the Northern Qi dynasty endured for less than three decades, from 550 to 577, it produced one of the most distinctive and accomplished schools of Buddhist sculpture in China. Its supreme achievement was the construction of the Xiangtangshan cave temples near Yecheng. Commissioned under the patronage of the Northern Qi court, aristocracy, and religious elite, these sanctuaries were populated by monumental Buddhas, richly adorned bodhisattvas, disciples, guardian figures, and fantastic creatures. Their sculptures combined sensuous, rounded modeling with extraordinary restraint and spiritual introspection, transforming artistic traditions transmitted from India and Central Asia into a distinctly Chinese sculptural idiom.
The name Xiangtangshan, or ‘Mountain of Echoing Halls’, encompasses the Northern and Southern Xiangtangshan caves as well as the smaller Shuiyusi, or Little Xiangtangshan, site. The monumental caves of Northern Xiangtangshan were closely associated with imperial patronage, while the Southern caves were created on a smaller scale under the sponsorship of members of the Northern Qi elite. Once filled with some of the greatest Buddhist sculptures produced in sixth-century China, the caves were severely damaged during the early twentieth century, when many figures and architectural elements were chiseled from their original settings and entered the international art market. Important sculptures originating from the complex are now preserved in museums throughout Europe and the United States.
Literature comparison:
Compare a related limestone head of a bodhisattva, dated Northern Qi dynasty, found in Cave 1 of the Southern Xiangtangshan site, now in the Morgan Library and Museum, New York, reference number AZ075. Compare a related limestone head of an attendant Bodhisattva, dated ca. 565-75, found in the southern site of the Xiangtangshan Caves, in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, object number 14.50. Compare a related dark stone bodhisattva head, dated Northern Qi dynasty, 43 cm tall, originally from Xiangtangshan, in the Penn Museum, object number C444.
Auction result comparison:
Type: Related
Auction: Bonhams Paris, 25 October 2022, lot 32
Price: EUR 1,482,375 or approx. EUR 1,638,000 adjusted for inflation at the time of writing
Description: An important and extremely rare large stone head of a bodhisattva, Northern Qi dynasty
Expert remark: Compare the related modeling and manner of carving with similar smooth hair and tall crown with scalloped edges, the delineated eyes, and bow-shaped lips. Note the similar size (43.5 cm).
Auction result comparison:
Type: Closely related
Auction: Bonhams London, 8 November 2018, lot 31
Price: GBP 308,750 or approx. EUR 485,000 converted and adjusted for inflation at the time of writing
Description: A white marble head of Mahasthamaprapta, Northern Qi dynasty
Expert remark: Compare the related modeling and manner of carving with similar soft facial features, crown element with vase and scalloped edges, and delineated eyes. Note the size (34 cm) and different stone.
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