India, Gujarat or Rajasthan. The powerful ovoid face with soft full lips, heavy-lidded almond-shaped eyes elegantly delineated beneath raised arched eyebrows, the hair in crisply carved snail-shell curls topped by a flower, flanked by pendulous earlobes, backed by a radiating halo.

Provenance: A private collection in London, United Kingdom, by repute acquired “from an old Spink contact long time ago”. Jonathan Tucker & Antonia Tozer Asian Art, London. A copy of an invoice from Joanathan Tucker & Antonia Tozer Asian Art with a detailed description of the present lot, confirming the provenance above, accompanies this lot. Jonathan Tucker and Antonia Tozer are a husband-and-wife team, both former specialists with the venerable trading house of Spink & Son in London, Tucker as associate director of Indian and Southeast Asian art and Tozer as an expert in Chinese art. The couple operated a successful gallery in St. James’s, London for more than twenty years, and now work by appointment in the Cotswolds. During their many years in the Asian art field, they have sold to museums and private collectors throughout the world.
Condition: Good condition, commensurate with age. Extensive wear, obvious losses, signs of weathering and erosion, encrustations, chips, nicks, and scratches.

Weight: 20.4 kg (incl. stand)
Dimensions: Height 38 cm (excl. stand), 48.5 cm (incl. stand)

With an associated stand. (2)

The beautifully carved life size sandstone head carries a lustrous polish characteristic of medieval Jain sculpture from Central India. Every element is precisely articulated, from the individual curls of hair, wide, alert eyes and pursed lips. The cranial bump atop the head, capped by a flower, might have been influenced by Buddhist imagery.

Literature comparison:
Compare a related reddish buff sandstone head of a Jain Tirthankara from northwest Madhya Pradesh, dated 11^th-12^th century, 28 cm high, illustrated by J. C. Harle and A. Topsfield, Indian Art in the Ashmolean Museum, Oxford, 1987, p. 45, no. 53.

Auction result comparison:
Type: Closely related
Auction: Sotheby’s New York, 17 September 2024, lot 371
Price: USD 21,600 or approx. EUR 20,500 converted at the time of writing
Description: A polished sandstone head of a Jina, Western India, 12th/13th Century
Expert remark: Compare the closely related modeling, manner of carving, and size (38.1 cm). Note the later dating and the massive damages to the face.

Auction result comparison:
Type: Closely related
Auction: Christie’s New York, 21 March 2018, lot 315
Price: USD 37,500 or approx. EUR 45,000 converted and adjusted for inflation at the time of writing
Description: A pink sandstone bust of Jina Parshvanatha, India, Rajasthan, 10^th-11^th century
Expert remark: Compare the closely related manner of carving with similar raised brows and curled hair. Note the size (61.6 cm) and good state of preservation. Also note the identical dating.