Wooden Buddha sculpture with hidden objects

An x-ray of a wooden sculpture of Dainichi Nyorai (or Vairocana) from the 1190’s.  It gets better:

X-rays reveal that three dedicatory objects have remained sealed inside the hollow torso of the wood figure for 800 years.  The three interior objects–all potent Buddhist symbols associated with memorials–are tied together with a bronze wire. They comprise a large wood placard with a finial in the shape of a five-element pagoda (or gorin-to, literally “five-wheel pagoda”), a small crystal gorin-to and a crystal gem shaped as a round ball emulating a lotus bud mounted on a bronze lotus pedestal. The gorin-to shape is unique to Japan and came into fashion in the late twelfth century as a grave marker; its five parts correspond to the five elements–earth, water, fire, wind and space. The wooden plaque is likely to be inscribed with the date of the dedication and the name of the temple or donor, as well as that of the sculptor. The x-ray shows that the plaque is suspended at the center of the interior of the sculpture from bronze wire stretched from either side of the interior chest cavity through a hole drilled in the plaque. The crystal ball (shingachirin), placed in the approximate position of the heart, represents the spirit of the sculpture.

This sold in 2008 at Christies for $14,377,000.  There’s a catalog out there somewhere with much better images.
Get an exclusive sale and alerts from lord and taylor here at Groupon. Check out for more details.