A gold-painted Chinese statue of a Buddha in sitting position hides the mummified remains of a high-status monk who lived nearly 1,000 years ago, scientists have found.
The secret hidden in the statue was discovered when preservationists began restoring it many years ago. But the human remains were not studied in detail until researchers took scans and tissue samples late last year.
The papier-mâché statue, which has the dimensions, roughly, of a seated person, is now on display at the Hungarian Natural History Museum in Budapest. A monastery in southeastern China might have been its home for centuries.
It may have been smuggled and bought and sold in the Netherlands. In 1996, a private owner decided to have someone fix the chips and cracks that marred the exterior. However, when the restorer removed the statue from its wooden platform, he noticed two pillows emblazoned with Chinese text placed beneath the statue’s knees. When he removed the pillows, he discovered the human remains.
“He looked right into the bottom of this monk. You can see part of the bones and tissue of his skin,” said Vincent van Vilsteren, an archaeology curator at the Drents Museum in the Netherlands, where the mummy was on exhibition last year.
