A SANDSTONE HEAD OF BUDDHA SHAKYAMUNI, MON-DVARAVATI PERIODThailand, 8th-10th century. Sensitively carved with heavy-lidded downcast eyes with incised pupils, thick ridged brows, a broad nose, elongated earlobes, and full lips forming a calm smile, the hair in snail shell curls over a high ushnisha.Provenance: Collection Monsieur M., an important French private collection. Michael Phillips, acquired from the above. Michael Phillips (born 1943) 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,mensurate with age. Old wear, losses, nicks, scratches, very minor old fills, signs of weathering and erosion, encrustations, structural cracks. Fine, naturally grown patina.Scientific Analysis Report: A technical examination was conducted by Podany Conservation Services. The examination report concludes: “Aparison of observed features does favor the opinion that the head fragment is not of modern origin or a forgery.” The signed examination report, dated 24 May 2021, apanies this lot. Note that the purported date stated in the examination report is circa 9th-11th century.Weight: 3,340 g (incl. stand)Dimensions: Height 17.5 cm (excl. stand) and 25.5 cm (incl. 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, p. 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.”Literatureparison:Compare a closely related sandstone head of Buddha in the National Museum Bangkok, dated 8th-10th century, with nearly identical facial features.Auction resultparison:Type: Closely relatedAuction: Christie’s Paris, 12 June 2018, lot 239Price: EUR 15,000 or approx.EUR 18,000 adjusted for inflation at the time of writingDescription: A stone head of Buddha Shakyamuni, Thailand, Dvaravati period, 8th-9th centuryExpert remark: Despite being a larger example (32 cm), thisparable shares very similar facial characteristics with the current lot, including a flattened down-turned no