Large Southeast Asian stone guard demon head, Possibly 12th c. or later, possibly Champa, Vietnam, relief carved sandstone, architectural element carved with repeating rows of balls and gadroons forming a face, mounted to black laminate base, approx. 28"h x 16"w x 8"d (stone), 38"h (total)

Provenance: The Collection of visual artist Lewis Stein, NYC

Notes/Literature: Artist Lewis Stein (1945-2022) was an original SOHO pioneer working and collecting from his Broome Street loft over a five decade career. Inspired by artists like Marcel Duchamp and Andy Warhol, he started taking common household objects, like cleavers and hammers, and painting them in bright garish colors. In the late 1960s, he met dealer Dick Bellamy, who introduced his work to the gallerists who gave him his first exposure, including David Whitney in New York, Nicholas Wilder in Los Angeles, and Rolf Ricke in Cologne. A practitioner of Zen Buddhism, Stein made his first of many trips to mainland China in 1975, where he discovered and made an aesthetic connection to traditional Chinese Arts. Over the decades Stein amassed a formidable collection of Asian artifacts and a reputation for scholarly connoisseurship.

Good/Fair, fragmentary, showing overall weathering but retaining carving detail, drilled for mounting **Note: Condition reports are based on visual inspection under typical office lighting. Unless otherwise noted, items are not examined under UV light in advance of sale. If you are interested in bidding, please contact us to request a more thorough examination, or make an appointment for in-person inspection. Condition reports are rendered as specialist opinion by the staff of the Auction House and not as statements of fact. We do not guarantee the content of written or verbal condition reports. Remember, all sales are final. The absence of a condition report does not imply that there are no condition issues with the lot. Please call us at (973) 377-1500 or e-mail info@milleabros.com with any questions about this lot at least 24 hours prior to auction.