The tiny but valuable image was supposedly brought here from Vientiane as part of the founding of Ubon Ratchathani in the 1700s. Later it was used as part of a ceremony in which government officials vowed an oath of allegiance to Siam’s monarchs. It remains one of Ubon’s most sacred treasures, sitting high up in the want-to-be Marble Temple, behind glass and barely visible, with a replica placed in front of the larger seated Buddha image down below.