A MONUMENTAL HEAD OF VAIROCANA, THE PRIMORDIAL BUDDHA, CIRCA 500-800 AD

Expert’s note (part I):
The present head is extraordinarily rare due to its exceptional size and history as part of a towering statue, likely standing around four meters tall, once gracing the exterior of a significant temple or cave shrine. It portrays a most important solely Buddhist subject, showcases a clear Gupta influence not seen in later Chinese sculpture, and was carved from red sandstone, a direct tribute to the art of Mathura. It therefore dates back to the Tang dynasty, if not considerably earlier, with a vanishingly small possibility of originating at the beginning of the Song dynasty. (please scroll down for part II of this expert’s note)

Powerfully yet sensitively sculpted, the full rounded face is carved with soft bow-shaped lips, the elongated eyes elegantly delineated beneath gracefully arched brows, the hair in crisply carved curls. Surmounted by a tall crown with three figures in high relief representing the Buddhas of the past, present, and future, each seated in dhyanasana on a lotus throne.


Provenance:
From the personal collection of J. J. Lally, New York, USA. With two labels from J. J. Lally, each inscribed with the number ‘4154’. James J. Lally was a renowned antique dealer and connoisseur, recognized as one of the greatest scholar-dealers of Chinese art, who has been a leader in the field for more than 40 years. After graduating from Harvard College and Columbia University, Lally joined Sotheby’s where he held many positions within the Chinese art department. In 1970, he served as the director of Chinese works of art at Sotheby’s in New York and Hong Kong, and by 1983 was named president of Sotheby’s in North America. In 1986 he founded his namesake gallery, J. J. Lally & Co., at 41 East 57th Street in New York - just a few blocks away from the MoMA, to provide advisory services for keen collectors. Lally fondly recalls the moment, not long after he opened his gallery, when a young man walked through the door with a Shang Dynasty gong-a bronze vessel shaped like a gravy boat-decorated with a dragon and tiger and in beautiful condition. It was, Lally described, “one of the most important objects I ever had in my hands.” The young man said he had inherited it from his father and was not really interested in Chinese art himself. He wanted to buy a sailboat and wondered if the gong was valuable enough to pay for that. “I was very happy to tell him that it was valuable enough to buy two sailboats,” Lally noted. The gallery helped to establish New York as a major center of commerce for Chinese art and allowed Lally to concentrate on his own specific interests, particularly early ceramics, ritual bronze vessels, archaic jade carvings and sculpture. Lally brought a learned approach to his work, publishing detailed, scholarly catalogs that have remained important reference guides within the field. This meticulous approach continued when he produced his own exhibitions and catalogs. Giuseppe Eskenazi, dubbed the “Godfather of Chinese Antiques,” and one of the world’s most esteemed Chinese art dealers, also spoke highly of Lally for his achievements in the industry, alongside William Chak from Hong Kong, and the Marchant family from London. In the spring of 2023, Christie’s and Bonhams conducted single owner sales of Lally’s collection which broke several auction records.

Condition:
Excellent condition, commensurate with age. Old wear, encrustations, and erosion. Obvious losses, minor nicks and scratches. The originally rather porous sedimentary rock now almost completely smoothed out by more than a millennia of weathering and worship. Magnificent naturally grown patina overall, giving the stone a deep auburn color.

Weight: 120 kg (incl. stand)
Dimensions: Height 60.1 (excl. stand) and 95 cm (incl. stand)

With a fitted stand. (2)


Vairocana
is a cosmic buddha from Mahayana and Vajrayana Buddhism. Vairocana is often interpreted, in texts like the Avatamsaka Sutra, as the dharmakaya, the unmanifested and inconceivable aspect, of the historical Gautama Buddha. In the conception of the Five Great Buddhas, Vairocana is at the center. He is the Primordial Buddha in the Chinese schools of Tiantai, Huayan, and Tangmi, which developed during the Sui and Tang dynasties. Vairocana is also seen as the embodiment of sunyata, the Buddhist concept of ‘emptiness’ or ‘nothingness’. In this regard, the massive size and brilliance of Vairocana statues serve as a reminder that all conditioned existence is empty and without a permanent identity, whereas the Dharmakaya is beyond concepts. The Spring Temple Buddha of Lushan County, Henan, China, depicts Vairocana and is
the second tallest statue in the world with a total height of 153 meters.


Expert’s note (part II):


The present head draws its primary inspiration from the Gupta art of Northern India, which was centered in the city of Mathura. This influence is evident in Vairocana's gracefully elongated eyes, soft full lips, and, notably, the use of red sandstone - a material rarely found in Chinese sculpture but widely used in the art of Mathura.

Mathura became India's most important artistic production center from the second century BC (see fig. 1, the Mehrauli fragment of a Yakshi dated 150 BC in the National Museum of India, New Delhi), its highly recognizable red sandstone statues being admired and exported all over the region throughout the next 700 years (see fig. 2, a Kushan-period head of Buddha, 1st-2nd century, at Sotheby’s New York, 22 September 2005, lot 7), and its sculpture prospering and further evolving under the Gupta Empire (see fig. 3, a Gupta-period head of a Jina, mid-5th century, at Christie’s New York, 23 March 2010, lot 167).

Buddhism made its way to China during the Han dynasty through the efforts of missionaries who utilized both the overland Central Asian Silk Road and maritime routes. An influential figure during this period was Lokaksema, a Kushan monk hailing from Gandhara, known for translating Buddhist texts into Chinese.

By the 460s, Buddhism was a mainstream institution in China, and its iconography and art were widely recognized. Particularly Northern Wei art came under influence of Indian and Central Asian traditions through the mean of trade routes. The rulers of the Northern Wei dynasty converted to Buddhism and became great patrons of Buddhist arts (see fig. 4, a limestone head of a bodhisattva, early 6th century, exhibited by J. J. Lally, Buddhist Sculpture from Ancient China, 10-31 March 2017, no. 5).

Buddhism then continued to flourish under the Sui dynasty, which unified the warring Northern and Southern dynasties during a period when central political control was limited and Buddhism created a unifying cultural force that uplifted the people out of war, leading to the rebirth of culture in China under the Sui dynasty (see fig. 5, a marble head of Buddha, at Christie’s New York, 24 September 2020, lot 809).

China's sculptural tradition reached its most mature phase during the subsequent Tang dynasty, an era when monks and pilgrims frequently traveled to Northern India, the spiritual home of Buddhism, in a quest for knowledge and inspiration. The great artistic tradition of Gupta India increasingly provided a rich source of inspiration to Tang artisans (see fig. 6, a red sandstone head of a bodhisattva, 7th century, at Christie’s New York, 20 March 2015, lot 757).

The important influence of this source began to wane quickly after the end of the Tang dynasty, when a decidedly Chinese style of sculpture emerged during the Song dynasty, influenced in part by the gradual embrace of the Neo-Confucian political ideology at court. Buddhism was combined with Taoism and Confucianism, making the religion more secularized and permeating the styles of both painting and sculpture of the time (see fig. 7, a limestone head of a bodhisattva, Northern Song dynasty, in the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, accession number M.71.73.114).




五至八世紀毘盧遮那佛頭像


毗盧遮那佛頭戴佛冠，穿戴耳飾，小螺髮，錐形肉髻。寶冠由冠葉組成，葉正中各作一龕，龕內各自雕鑄跏趺坐於仰蓮台座的坐佛。此尊毗盧遮那佛額方面圓，五官分布勻稱，眉長眼細，鼻挺嘴秀，雙眼下視，嘴角含笑，法相端嚴。


來源：
紐約 J. J. Lally私人收藏，J. J. Lally留下兩個標簽，上面都寫著 ‘4154’。James J. Lally是一位著名的古董商和專家，被公認為中國藝術最偉大的儒商之一。四十多年來，他一直是該領域的領導者。從哈佛大學和哥倫比亞大學畢業後，Lally加入蘇富比中國藝術部門並擔任多個職位。1970年，他擔任紐約和香港蘇富比中國藝術品總監，並於1983年被任命為蘇富比北美區總裁。1986 年，他在紐約東 57 街 41 號（距現代藝術博物館僅幾個街區）創立了同名畫廊 J. J. Lally & Co.，為收藏家提供諮詢服務。Lally深情地回憶起藝廊開張不久，一位年輕人拿著商代銅器（刻有龍虎圖案的青銅器皿，狀態良好）走進門的那一刻。“這是我手中最重要的物品之一。” 這位年輕人說，他是從父親那裡繼承的，他自己對中國藝術並不真正感興趣。他想買一艘帆船，不知道這銅器是否值錢。”我很高興告訴他，它的價值足以購買兩艘帆船，” Lally告訴他。該藝廊幫助紐約成為中國藝術的主要商業中心，並使Lally能夠專注於自己的興趣，特別是早期陶瓷、青銅禮器、古代玉雕和造像。Lally為出版了詳細的學術目錄，這些目錄至今仍然是該領域的重要參考，他被譽為“中國古董教父”。全球最受尊敬的中國藝術品經銷商之一的Giuseppe Eskenazi 與香港的 William Chak 和倫敦的 3月ant 家族一樣，也高度評價了 Lally的成就。 2023年春季，佳士得和邦瀚斯對拉利的藏品進行了拍賣，打破了多項拍賣記錄。

品相：
狀況極佳，有磨損、結垢、缺損、輕微的刻痕和劃痕。原本多孔的沉積岩現在幾乎完全平滑了。自然包漿，石頭呈深赤褐色。

重量：120 公斤(含底座)
尺寸：高 60.1 (不含底座) 與95 厘米 (含底座)

底座固定 (2)


毗盧遮那
，意思為照耀，是光明遍照的意思，居於蓮華藏世界。天台宗把法身佛也稱為毗盧遮那，報身佛稱盧舍那，釋迦牟尼佛為應身佛。唐密以毗盧遮那佛為密教最大本尊，胎藏界、金剛界的主尊之一。中國河南省平頂山市魯山縣堯山佛泉寺為毘盧遮那佛像，總高153米，是世界第二高的佛像。