INDONESIA, CENTRAL JAVA, 9TH CENTURY

This remarkable head and Lot 153 closely resemble the manifold transcendental Buddhas that adorn the Buddhist monument of Borobudur in Central Java, erected under the Sailendra Dynasty in the early years of the 9th century. The porous texture of the volcanic stone expertly fashioned into serene expressions manifest a sense of sincerity and bliss characteristic of classical Javanese sculpture. The great stupa of Borobudur is a three-dimensional mandala that maps the cosmic universe in five ascending terraces. The large-scale Buddhas at its pinnacle represent the highest levels of transcendental wisdom.

For a related example, see P.Pal, A Collecting Odyssey: Indian, Himalayan, and Southeast Asian Art from the James and Marilynn Alsdorf Collection, 1997, p. 104, cat. no. 126.