A limestone head of a BodhisattvaTang DynastyThe face gracefully carved with slender eyes barely open in meditation, the nose flaring above a sensuous bud mouth, with pendulous ears and hair arranged into a tall chignon, traces of black pigment visible, wood stand. 29.8cm(11 3/4in) high (2).注脚唐 石雕佛首像Provenance: an English private collection, and thence by descent來源：英國私人收藏，並由後人保存迄今The refined carving of the facial features, high elaborate chignon, and very earthly quality of this bodhisattva, relate to several similar examples from the Longmen caves; one is in the Avery Brundage Collection, illustrated in Chinese, Korean and Japanese Sculpture, San Francisco, 1974, p.222, no.110. Other related sculptures are illustrated in Longmen liusan diaoxiang ji, Shanghai, 1993, pls.72, 77 and 79. The present lot would have been commissioned by a family or groups of individuals hoping to accumulate karmic merit for themselves or their ancestors. According to Buddhist scriptures, such as the 'Lotus Sutra', compiled during the first century BC, accumulating merit by means of constructing devotional images, temples and shrines, would ensure one's rebirth in the wondrous land inhabited by the Buddha.A similar head was included in the exhibition of Buddhist Art of the Silk Road and East Asia: Transcending Time and Space, Fukui, 2010, pp.40-41, no.23.