Luohan head of the Song period in grey limestone. H.... Lot 13

Luohan head of the Song period in grey limestone. H. 38 cm Reference: For another Luohan head of similar workmanship see Christie's Paris lot 73 of June 9, 2021 Provenance: Important Geneva family, acquired since the 1950s or earlier Note: The particularly expressive treatment of the stone originated with Buddhist stone sculptures produced during the Sui and Tang periods. For comparison, see an early fragmentary relief head of a seated monk believed to be from the northern Xiangtangshan Caves, formerly in the Yamaguchi Collection, now in the Osaka Municipal Museum of Art, included in the exhibition Chinese Buddhist Stone Sculpture. Worship of the Sublime, Osaka Municipal Museum of Art, Osaka, 1995, cat. no. 44. A monk's head related to the Tang Dynasty in the National Museum in Stockholm is illustrated in Osvald Sirén, Kinesiska och Japanska Skulpturer och Malningar, Nationalmuseum, [Chinese and Japanese Paintings in the National Museum in Stockholm], Malmö, 1931, PL. 26. Later, under the Ming, expressiveness was replaced by a certain mannerism.