A rare painted marble head of a Bodhisattva China, Liao Dynasty

finely carved with slender bow-shaped eyes and a narrow low brow above the broad bud mouth and heavy rounded cheeks, with a small double chin before the thick rounded neck, all framed by thick locks of hair drawn up and secured with a foliate tiara set with a central round jewel and the remains of a curled panel, flanked by small drill-holes for the attachment of further projecting foliate panels and jewels, and terminating in loose scarved issuing from roundels, with long looping locks of hair curling over the large ears, the top of the head flattened and drilled for the attachment of the topknot, or a further identifying attribute, the stone with ample traces of vermilion, black and green pigments (stand)

Christie's London, 10th June 1991, lot 57.

It is interesting to note at least six major drill-holes for the attachment of identifying attributes, at the appropriate and prominent cardinal positions for subsidiary heads. It is unlikely that the holes would have been necessary merely for the attachment of jewelry to the crown, since the crown itself appears to be merely a thin strap with one panel, whereas major elements such as rounded heads might reasonably have been carved separately and tenoned into the major head. As such, there may be grounds to suggest this is the major head of Ekadasamukha Avalokitesvara, the eleven-headed emanation of the Bodhisattva of Compassion.

The slightly chubby cheeks, soft treatment of the brows and narrower temples of the present head are closely related to the face on a marble figure of an arhat or luohan said to be from Hebei province, now in the Musee Guimet, illustrated by Osvald Siren, Chinese Sculpture from the Fifth to Fourteenth Centuries, New York, 1925, pl.567B. Compare also, two other bejeweled bodhisattvas, pls.583 A & B, and another two on later animals, pls.585 A & B, originally from Hebei province. All display very similar simple banded tiaras, notwithstanding the florid decoration to the drapery and lotus thrones that is characteristic of the Liao style. Given its very similar treatment of the eyes and mouth, and the prevalence of pigments on the marble, it is highly likely that the present head was from a figure with similarly elaborate torso and base, and a product of the same regional workshop as the examples above.

Large marble figures and heads from the Liao dynasty appear to be rare. Compare a head with very similar treatment of the tiara roundels, hair and ears, exhibited A & J Speelman Ltd., Oriental Art, London, 1990, no.9, and the marble torso of a seated Guanyin with crown, in the Art Institute of Chicago, illustrated op.cit., pl.570, and again in Sherman Lee & Wai-Kam Ho (eds.), Chinese Art under the Mongols: The Yuan Dynasty (1279-1368), Cleveland, 1968, p.113, no.1.