SMILING BUDDHA _____________________ This jolly, happy Buddha will bring you luck when you touch his belly! It is hard to imagine that the man modeling for this figurine is a company secretary who had looked after Vonnie's and her husband's design studio for several years. This is a different Buddha -

still smarting from a joke someone had run past him a second ago - or was it a moment of satori? Here, Gautama's serenity is replaced by good humour - even a quirky sense of mischief. "Just be happy" it seems to say. The Smiling Buddha stands or rather 'sits' 27cm high. It is cast in bronze resin with verdegris pateena applied.