Vanna Emia |
May 09, 2015 Yibada
In February of this year, the discovery of the remains of a
1,000-year-old mummified monk found inside an ancient Buddhist
statue made headlines. It is the only known sample of such a
practice, and the artifact is coming home to China.
The relic is owned
by Dutch private collector Oscar van
Overeem, who is willing to return the one-of-a-kind artifact to
China. His identity became known through LinkedIn, a
social networking site,
where he publicly acknowledged that the statue is in his
possession.
Through an interview conducted
by the Beijing News via LinkedIn, van Overeem revealed that
negotiations are underway. The Dutch collector has reached a
tentative agreement with a Buddhist temple near Yangchun
village, Fujian Province.
It is believed that the Buddhist statue holds the
remains of Patriarch Zhanggong, formerly known as Zhang Qisan, a
healer worshipped as an ancestor by locals in Yangchun
village.
According to
experts, Patriarch Zhanggong practiced self-mummification in the
village during his lifetime, recorded to be during the Song Dynasty
(960-1279).
For van Overeem,
the statue deserves to be "incorporated in truly Buddhist
surroundings." He decided to return it to its homeland to be
worshipped by "those who love and appreciate [Patriarch
Zhanggong]."
The Buddha statue's
contents were first discovered in the 1990s, but experts were
hesitant to remove the mummy due to the high risk of
disintegration. A CAT scan conducted by a team of German, Dutch and
Italian scientists this year revealed the mummified monk in
detail.
According to German
paleontologist Wilfrid Rosendahl, self-mummification was not an
uncommon practice among monks.
"But to find a
mummified monk inside a statue is really extraordinary. It's the
only known example in the world," said the expert.
Oscar van Overeem came to be in
possession of the unique Buddha statue in 1996 from a collector in
Amsterdam. He bought it for 40,000 Dutch guilders
($20,544).