Special gift from the President to the King and Queen of Japan
The silver Amitabha statue (National Treasure version) was presented by President Tran Dai Quang to Japanese King Akihito and Queen Michiko on March 1 during their visit to Vietnam.
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The version of the Adida statue at Phat Tich Pagoda in Tien Du District, Bac Ninh was presented by President Tran Dai Quang to the Japanese Emperor and Empress during his official visit to Vietnam.
Participating in the consultation on the selection of the statue, historian Duong Trung Quoc said that the Amitabha statue is the oldest Buddhist art work, associated with the sacred land of Buddha and has been ranked as a National Treasure. The Amitabha Buddha is also close to East Asian countries such as Japan.
"Casting the statue was very difficult because it was a small product with delicate details. The artisans had to work very hard to create this statue," said historian Duong Trung Quoc.
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| The Ly Dynasty version of Amitabha statue was chosen by President Tran Dai Quang as a gift for the King and Queen of Japan. |
The Amitabha statue version is crafted by artisans from pure silver, cast using continuous inert gas vacuum pressure technology to ensure monolithic. The statue is 24 cm high, weighs more than 4 kg, the face, neck, ears, hands and pair of lions on the statue are plated with 24k gold, the statue is placed on a 5.5 cm high rosewood base, bilingual information (Vietnamese - Japanese) is engraved around. The entire gift and base weigh nearly 10 kg.
The statue is preserved by a transparent mica box, a leather-covered lacquer box containing all the information, history and artistic value of the statue and the outermost is a protective leather-covered wooden box.
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| The Japanese King and Queen admire the March 1 gift. Photo: Huu Sang |
Mr. Tran Thanh Tung, representative of Circle Group and Heritage Association (the implementing unit) said that the successful creation of the Amitabha statue is a great progress in restoring the heritage of our ancestors.
The stages of developing and completing the work ensure scientific and accurate standards. The silver material with a content of 99.9% is taken from the Sin Quyen mine (Lao Cai), using a series of techniques in jewelry making by Vietnamese artisans.
Heritage Guild artisans once crafted the Thang Long Dragon Head from ceramic, a gift from Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc to President Obama during his visit to Vietnam in 2016.
The Amitabha statue of the Ly Dynasty (dated 1057) is considered a work of art that has achieved the standards of Vietnamese sculpture to date. The statue has delicate, soft, meticulous and lively lines, and is considered a work of art carrying the message of Peace and Prosperity of the Ly Dynasty. With full values in terms of religion, history and art, the Amitabha Buddha statue has become one of the proud treasures of the Vietnamese people. The Amitabha statue is also known as the Royal statue because of the appearance of more than 40 pairs of dragons with many different moving shapes, showing the presence of royalty, the only thing the Ly dynasty achieved. The statue is the pride of an art that has reached its peak, comparable to the development of world art. |
According to VNE
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