A SANDSTONE HEAD OF BUDDHA SHAKYAMUNI, MON-DVARAVATI PERIOD
Thailand, 7th-9th century. Sensitively carved with heavy-lidded downcast eyes and finely incised pupils, thick ridged brows, a narrow nose, elongated earlobes, and full lips forming a calm smile, the hair in snail-shell curls.


Provenance:
The Phillips Family Collection, Lawrence and Shirley Phillips, and thence by descent to Michael Phillips (born 1943), who is an Academy Award-winning film producer. Born in Brooklyn, New York, his parents were Lawrence and Shirley Phillips, noted New York dealers in Asian fine arts, selling to the Met, the LACMA, the Chicago Art Institute, and the British Museum among others. Michael Phillips is a collector of Asian art himself, particularly Indian, Southeast Asian, and Himalayan sculpture. His most important films include The Sting (winning the Academy Award for Best Picture in 1973), Taxi Driver (winning the Palme d’Or at the 1976 Cannes Film Festival), and Steven Spielberg’s Close Encounters of the Third Kind.

Condition:
Good condition, commensurate with age. Old wear, losses, nicks, scratches, signs of weathering and erosion, encrustations, cracks. Very minor old fills. Fine, naturally grown patina overall.

Weight: 1,772.1 g (incl. stand)
Dimensions: Height 18.7 cm (incl. stand), 12.5 cm (excl. stand)

Mounted on an associated stand. (2)


While there is great variation within the Mon-Dvaravati tradition
, the sensitivity paid to the modeling of these facial features is in keeping with the period’s focus on the purity and fluidity of form. As expressed by Jean Boisselier in The Heritage of Thai Sculpture, 1975, page 73, “The school of Dvaravati may stand alongside the great Buddhist artistic traditions of India, so enduring were its innovations and so persuasive its influence on most of the art of Southeast Asia.”


Literature comparison:

Compare a closely related sandstone head of Buddha in the National Museum Bangkok, dated 8th-10th century, with nearly identical facial features. Compare a related head of a Buddha, 19.5 cm high, dated to the 8th century, in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, accession number 1983.13.


Auction result comparison:


Type: Related
Auction: Bonhams New York, 19 March 2019, lot 874
Price: USD 43,825 or approx.
EUR 46,500
converted and adjusted for inflation at the time of writing
Description: A Blackstone head of Buddha, Central Thailand, Dvaravati period, circa 8th century
Expert remark: Note the related facial features and hair style. Also note the slightly larger size (23.5 cm).


Auction result comparison:

Type: Related
Auction: Christie’s New York, 15 March 2016, lot 318
Price: USD 25,000 or approx.
EUR 31,000
converted and adjusted for inflation at the time of writing
Description: A gray sandstone head of Buddha, Thailand, Mon-Dvaravati period, 9th century
Expert remark: Compare the related facial features and material. Note the slightly larger size (24 cm).

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