THE iconic serene smile and downcast eyes are there, though the styles are strikingly different.
These Buddhas now on display in Singapore are something special and it is not just because of their different forms, from upright figures with the air of scholars to sensual figures in clinging drapes.
They are part of an exhibition of centuries-old stone Buddha sculptures whose discovery was hailed as the most important archaeological find of the 20th century in China.
It opens on Friday at the Peranakan Museum here. Singapore is the only South-east Asian stop of the touring exhibition of 35 sculptures that were among about 400 limestone sculptures buried for unknown reasons 800 years ago in Qingzhou in the eastern province of Shandong.
Dating as far back as the sixth century, these rare sculptures were found in 1996 by construction workers levelling a field for a sports ground.
The sculptures in the exhibition, called Serenity In Stone: The Qingzhou Discovery, are a must-see for other reasons, too, besides their remarkable age and the miraculous way they were discovered.
