Burl Wood Happy Monk with Ingot and Prayer Beads

This exquisite sculpture, crafted from natural burl wood, features intricate detailing accented with sterling silver. The cheerful monk holds a gold-leaf-adorned “ingot”, symbolizing wealth and good fortune, and wears a finely detailed prayer bead necklace, adding a spiritual touch to the piece.
 
Mounted on a sleek black granite base, the sculpture is both stable and elegant. 
 
Rolf von Bueren, an avid burl wood collector for over 40 years, personally travels to Japan to look for rare and beautiful pieces of burl woods – some that he keeps, some that he shares with his collector friends and Lotus Arts de Vivre designs. Burls result in a uniquely patterned wood, which is highly prized for its beauty. It is valued and sought after by artists, furniture makers and sculptors. The ""wild grain"" in the Burl makes the wood extremely dense and resistant to splitting, which made it valued for bowls, artifacts and sculptures, and is a popular wood in many auction houses across the world.
 
It took eight master craftsmen with a combined production time of 2 months to complete the Happy Monk. From imagining its unique design, sculpting its shape, carving the wood, to employing a silversmith, great thought and care has gone into creating this timeless art piece.
 
Size: 23.5(W) x 34.5(L) x 55.5(H) cm. 
Weight: 12 kg.