A FINELY CARVED MARBLE HEAD OF BUDDHA NORTHERN QI DYNASTY

sensitively modelled as the head of Buddha, depicted with a serene and meditative countenance highlighted by a pair of downcast eyes and pursed lips, framed by tight curls densely covering the head, extensive traces of original gilding, stand

Collection of Marcel Gimond (1894-1961), French sculptor.

Marcel Gimond, Refutations de Certaines Erreurs Concernant la Sculpture, Paris, 1961, p. 41.

The Northern Qi period was one of the most innovative and distinctive periods for the art of stone carving in China, when the sculptors embarked on a departure away from the more elementary, foreign-influenced style practised during the Northern Wei period towards a distinctive Chinese Buddhist imagery. It is extremely rare to find a marble head of the Buddha of this fine quality, preserved with so much of its original gilding. Sensitively defined with distinctive aristocratic features and an expression of deep serenity, this head is closely related to sculptures recovered from a hoard at the Longxing Temple in Qingzhou, Shandong province, where Buddha heads in many different variations were found; compare, for example, the Northern Qi heads illustrated in Qingzhou Longxingsi fojiao zaoxiang yishu/Buddhist imagery art at Longxing Temple of Qingzhou, Ji'nan, 1999, pls 118-121; and others included in the exhibition Masterpieces of Buddhist Statuary from Qingzhou City, National Museum of Chinese History, Beijing, 1999, p. 121. Compare also a smaller marble head of the Buddha in the Hoppenot Collection, Paris, illustrated by Daisy Lion-Goldschmidt, Chinese Art, New York, 1980, pl. 118 and another smaller head illustrated by Osvald Siren, Ars Asiatica, vol. VII, pl. LVI, no. 641. Another similar example was sold in our New York rooms, 22nd September 2005, lot 16.

Marcel Gimond (1894-1961) was a French sculptor born in the Ardèche region of France. Gimond studied under Aristide Maillol and Auguste Rodin at the Beaux-Arts Academy in Lyon and later became a professor at École Nationale Supérieure des Beaux-Arts in Paris until 1960. Particularly renowned as a sculptor of the bust, his works were exhibited regularly at the Salon and continue to be seen in numerous institutions worldwide, including the National Portrait Gallery, London.