10 years ago, by chance, he collected a piece of pottery that had been stained by time, a unicorn-shaped candlestick. After asking around, Mr. Kien learned that it was an artifact of the Chau O pottery line from his hometown of Quang Ngai . Fascinated by the eye-catching orange-yellow and green glaze, and the unique shaping that not many people know about, Mr. Kien researched and began to collect this type of pottery in depth.

Đam mê sưu tập dòng gốm Châu Ổ

Collector Vo Trung Kien with Chau O ceramic artifacts.

Once quite famous household products in the South Central region more than 200 years ago, even presented to the king, but now there are quite a few ancient Chau O pottery items left. After 10 years of continuous collecting, Mr. Vo Trung Kien has built a quite remarkable collection with nearly 300 artifacts, including many rare items such as Buddha statues, large vases, a set of worship items including an incense burner and 2 cranes, decorative reliefs of the four sacred animals: dragon, unicorn, turtle, and phoenix, and even items in the four precious office set... all of which are rare and hard to find, most of which were made from the second half of the 19th century to the 1950s-1960s.

In the early days of collecting ancient Chau O pottery, Mr. Kien encountered many difficulties. Because both the system of knowledge documents as well as the number of artifacts remaining were very limited. Even trying to find a research book to refer to Chau O pottery was not possible, so he had to go online to collect each article, and then learn from the experiences of previous collectors. Whenever he had the opportunity to visit his hometown, he often visited the pottery kiln of artisan Dang Van Trinh's family in My Thien pottery village, Chau O town, Binh Son district, Quang Ngai province (now Binh Son commune, Quang Ngai province). Through conversations with artisans, Mr. Kien seemed to have a deeper understanding and love for his ancestors' pottery.

As social networks develop, antique dealers often post their items for sale, giving Mr. Vo Trung Kien more choices and more channels to exchange knowledge with friends. From here, he has collected many rare and ancient Chau O ceramics that he could hardly imagine before. Although this passion costs a lot of effort, time and money, Mr. Kien still perseveres. His family always encourages him to continue his passion for this elegant spiritual hobby.

A very good sign is that recently Chau O pottery has received a lot of attention from local authorities and collectors across the country. There have been many articles, research projects and investment projects to restore the craft village that has been famous for many years. That is also a great encouragement for Mr. Vo Trung Kien to continue with the work of searching for documents and artifacts. Even though there was a period of time due to the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic, it seemed that his passion for collecting would be difficult to continue.

In his heart, this man has always cherished the dream of soon building a huge collection, having the opportunity to open small exhibitions, accumulating more experience and knowledge to write books about the once famous ceramic line of his hometown. Although he has settled in Ho Chi Minh City, his childhood of being born and raised in his hometown of Quang Ngai will always be the motivation for Mr. Vo Trung Kien to fulfill this very humane and meaningful dream.

According to People's Army

Source: https://baoangiang.com.vn/dam-me-suu-tap-dong-gom-chau-o-a424516.html