Northern India Terracotta Terracotta Buddha head. - 18 cm

Terracotta Head of the Buddha, North India, late Gupta / early post-Gupta ancient tradition, 6th century CE. Significant terracotta Buddha head, characterized by a full, meditative face, long earlobes and a remarkable coiffure composed of a very large number of circular and spiral curls developing over the entire crown and the back. The elongated and lowered eyes, the widely arched eyebrows and the full-lipped mouth give the face a serene and introspective expression. The raised protuberance corresponds to the uṣṇīṣa, one of the main iconographic signs of the Buddha. The combination of this uṣṇīṣa, the hair curls, the extended earlobes and the absence of jewelry allows the figure to be identified with a high degree of certainty as a Buddha, probably Śākyamuni. The style belongs to the North Indian tradition inherited from Gupta art. The treatment of the face preserves the softness and the idealization characteristic of this tradition, while the powerful volume of the head and the very pronounced development of the hair orient toward a production of the 6th century, in a late Gupta phase or immediately post-Gupta. The sculpture shows interesting stylistic affinities with the famous terracotta Buddhist heads of northern India and in particular with certain heads associated with Akhnoor / Ambaran. This comparison remains stylistic, however: the internal construction of the present piece differs from that documented today for a substantial portion of the Ambaran group, and no direct attribution to this workshop is claimed. The piece is hollow, with a wide opening visible beneath the head. Its manufacture appears to combine molding and manual modeling, with particularly elaborate work on the coiffure. The numerous curls show slight variations in diameter, depth and arrangement. The surface preserves pinkish toreddish tones of terracotta beneath beige, gray and whitish deposits. The exposed reliefs are more abraded, while the depressions between the curls retain more material and deposits. Condition: generally good for an ancient terracotta sculpture. Ancient abrasions, small losses and occasional gaps in the hair, wear of certain curls and surface deposits. No major restoration or major re-attachment visible in the examined documentation. Mounted on a modern metal base. Provenance: former Belgian private collection, acquired between 1979 and 2009, then passed down to descendants in 2023. Dimensions without base: 18 × 13 × 12 cm. Weight: 1.645 kg. Height with base: 26.5 cm. No thermoluminescence analysis has been carried out. The proposed attribution and dating are based on stylistic, iconographic, technical, structural and comparative study of the piece. video link: https://www.dropbox.com/scl/fo/0q1fl294iuobtlgbqw1io/APZROb1VHZnA-M0FwHe7-kw?rlkey=aywqe6kxtxqkxrlrulxbt33e0&dl=0

Estimate:£1,878.72

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