This tiny statuette is one of the two gold Buddha images -- the other being the standing Buddha designated as National Treasure No. 80 -- discovered at a sarira reliquary excavated from the Three-story Stone Pagoda at Hwangboksa Temple Site, Gyeongju (National Treasure No. 37) when it was demolished and rebuilt in 1934. According to an inscription engraved at the sarira reliquary, a gold Amitabha statuette was put in it in 706, leading some historians to believe that this is that Amitabha. Some raise doubts since the Amitabha is six inches tall according to the inscription, whereas the height of this seated Buddha is only 12.2 centimeters or shorter than four inches. The statuette largely consists of three parts -- the mandorla (Buddhist halo of light), Buddha’s body, and the lotus pedestal -- designed to be detached from each other. The Buddha has notably large topknot, benign face with clearly defined features on it, and broad shoulders, displaying an image closer to that deemed ideal by Unified Silla artisans. It also has the outer robe covering both shoulders and running down while leaving the breast open to show the inner wear and cover the knees, finally hanging down further to create many vertical folds arranged to form symmetry. As for the symbolic hand gesture, the right hand is raised to the same level as the shoulders with the palm facing forward; the left hand placed on the knee shows the fingers turned downward and the palm facing away from the viewer. The mandorla formed around the head is decorated with a lotus flower surrounded by honeysuckle and vine designs and finally edged with an openwork flame motif; that around the body features honeysuckle and vine designs also edged with openwork flame motif. The pedestal has a tubular stem with a base of overturned lotus petals. With the face wearing a benign smile and having clear-cut features, balanced body, symbolic hand gesture, style of robe folds, and volume-focused expressions, this Buddha statuette is regarded as a very valuable source for the study of Korean Buddhist sculpture in the early 8th century.