Head of a Buddha

  • Excavated from the area beneath the Huoshaodong Cave
  • Tang dynasty
  • Limestone
  • H-25
  •  
    Longmen Caves Research Institute
Catalogue Entry

Limestone/ Excavated from the area beneath the Huoshaodong Cave,
Tang dynasty/ H. 26.5 cm/ Longmen Caves Research Institute
This fragment was excavated when the stairs beneath the Huoshaodong Cave were being repaired in 1988. While this head is round-faced and essentially has the same elements seen in the Buddha head with the Fengxiansidong Cave provenance exhibited here as cat. No. 23, here the sense of figural mass has been greatly reduced, and close examination of this head reveals the following differences from cat. No. 23: the usnisa is larger, the hairline is straight, the arch of the eyebrow line is weakened, and the eyes, nose and mouth are all smaller. Overall this head is "cuter" in sensibility. This head is thought to date from the end of the 7th or the beginning of the 8th century.