London, March 28
A rare Indian 7th century statue of Sakyamuni Buddha has been bought by two museums in the UK and will be the first of its kind displayed in a European collection.
The British and Victoria & Albert (V&A) museums pooled their resources and jointly bought the finely carved 14-inch high statue from a London dealer for £ 850,000. The figure is from the Gupta period which makes it about 1,300 years old.
Director of the British Museum Neil MacGregor said, “This magnificent object is a document of Buddhism’s spiritual and artistic inheritance and contribution to world civilisation. There are more people interested in Buddhism throughout the UK and many more practising Buddhists than ever before.”
— UNI
