Telling heritage stories through Vietnamese pottery

From his affinity with pottery, Viet Anh has built a strong community of heritage lovers through the pages Vietnamese Heritage, Vietnamese Ancient Pottery... to share his passion and inspire not only with antiques, but also with many other beauties from the country's heritage.

Outspoken, straightforward, sincere but also ready to confront uncompromisingly with opposing views on heritage, that is collector Truong Viet Anh.

Chu Dau blue and white ceramic vase with exquisite decorations in Truong Viet Anh's collection

What does that character love? If he is playful, he will love antiques, ancient costumes, ethnic costumes of the highlands, old jewelry, old postcards; if he is passionate, he will love cuisine with leaf cakes, stewed dishes, traditional cooking and presentation; if he is drunk, he will love Xam singing, Cheo singing, Van singing, Quan Ho singing… All of those playful – passionate – passionate things are put into Vietnamese Heritage and Vietnamese Ancient Ceramics, 2 websites created, operated and built up by Truong Viet Anh with materials every day to introduce the beauty of heritage in the most original and familiar way to lovers.

From the fate with pottery

Truong Viet Anh has been interested in ancient Vietnamese ceramics from the Ly, Tran, Le dynasties for more than ten years because of the diverse and changing beauty, sometimes rustic and sincere; sometimes refined and exquisite; sometimes full of pride and elegance of each specialized ceramic line. Far from Hanoi , coming to Ho Chi Minh City for work, nostalgia for the North gnawed at him, until one fine day he "bumped" into a diverse collection of small, pretty powder boxes of the Chu Dau blue-and-white flower line on Le Cong Kieu Street, District 1, so he chose to buy them, because: "I don't understand and don't care what antiques are, but looking at the powder boxes, I naturally have a feeling of familiarity and closeness, from the glaze color, decorative lines to size. Bringing them home to display with flowers and leaves, admiring them, taking pictures to send to friends, I feel happy inside. I fell in love with ancient Vietnamese ceramics since then."

Recreating Tet feast with traditional dishes with culinary artist Nguyen Thi Lam, Bat Trang

Recreating Tet feast with traditional dishes with culinary artist Nguyen Thi Lam, Bat Trang

From the 15th century Chu Dau powder boxes when entering the antique scene, the collection gradually expanded with plates, cups, bowls, jars, vases, powder cups...; familiar artifacts of ancient Vietnamese pottery. Truong Viet Anh expressed: “I feel blessed to be lucky enough to own many satisfactory artifacts, despite my limited finances. While veteran collectors in the market favor large-sized objects such as vases, jars, jars... belonging to the pestle-palm system, which are expensive, I go against the trend by choosing small-sized objects such as bowls, jars, painted bowls, chalk cups, crab baskets... but the designs and decorative patterns or painted ones are all very beautiful and charming. Craftsmen from both the North and the South know my collecting taste, so they focus on hunting for objects, send pictures, and then deliver them to my home, thanks to which I have a relationship with many antiques in a short time. Antiques are like a spiritual friend, keeping me company, soothing the nostalgia of more than 10 years away from Hanoi; and thanks to antiques, I have many new friends with the same passion.”

Truong Viet Anh in an exhibition of ancient costume collection for friends to enjoy

Having the opportunity to admire Truong Viet Anh's ancient Vietnamese ceramic collection, I can better understand her passion for Vietnamese ceramics. Thanks to her own hobby, the collection is now enough to draw a typical map of ancient Vietnamese ceramics, through clear historical periods. The artifacts do not usurp the throne of queen or king according to people's concept, but the materials, glazes, shaping techniques, decorative patterns... are attractive enough to imagine the golden age of ancient Vietnamese ceramics. From the period of glazed ceramics in the Ly Dynasty (1009 - 1225) with the dominant ivory white glaze, then to the brown flower Ly - Tran, celadone ceramics, blue and white ceramics in the Early Le Dynasty (1428 - 1527) with Chu Dau ceramic artifacts from the sunken ship Cu Lao Cham... are all ancient imprints that have brought Vietnamese ceramics closer to the world ceramic map.

Learn about the "gentlemen" at the Thai temple of the Later Le Dynasty, Dong Ve Ward, Thanh Hoa

Finding joy in heritage

In addition to antique sightseeing, Truong Viet Anh has another hobby of visiting ancient communal houses, ancient pagodas, or visiting villages, royal tombs..., looking for beauty through architecture, worship statues, carved patterns, artifacts... then gathering people who love Vietnamese heritage to share interesting stories, see and hear through images, documents, information related to the beauty of that heritage. The name Vietnamese Heritage was born, a private group, introducing the beauty of domestic and international antiques, as well as topics imbued with Vietnamese culture in the fields of cuisine, ancient costumes, architecture, discovery tourism...

Learn how to wrap Tay cakes from Nom village, Hung Yen

Truong Viet Anh next to the Vinh Lang stele from the Early Le Dynasty, a national treasure in Lam Kinh, Thanh Hoa

Sharing the story of running the Vietnamese Heritage website, recently adding a new address, Vietnamese Ancient Pottery, the owner confided: “I have no experience in creating content, images, nor building a profit-making or sales page, I just have the opportunity to travel a lot, witness a lot, see that my country has many good and beautiful things but few people care, pay attention, so I collect them and share them with people who have the same passion, mobilize collectors with rare and valuable items to agree to post images and information for everyone to admire”. Coordinating content for a lively page alone, not enough strength, the owner met with experts in antiques, folk culture, cooperated with photographers, contributed funds to have good articles, attractive information, beautiful images... to serve lovers of Vietnamese Heritage and Vietnamese Ancient Pottery.

Tran Dynasty (1226 - 1400) celadon ceramics with beautiful chrysanthemum motifs hundreds of years old

Tran Dynasty ceramic teapot with deep, profound jade glaze

Talking about the joy of the hobby, Truong Viet Anh added: “At first, forming the group also encountered many difficulties because I wanted to create a playground that was truly helpful for collectors, especially those new to the profession, helping them see pictures of beautiful and valuable items, access in-depth information to facilitate collecting, buy the right real items, and not be led by the nose by fake or repaired items. Gradually, my colleagues in the research community, and then big collectors also trusted, supported, contributed articles, and shared images, thanks to which I had more interactions and friends everywhere, and learned many valuable things from antiques and collectors.”

Lotus petal relief couplet from the Ly - Tran dynasty, a period of prosperity for ancient Vietnamese pottery

The beauty of Tran Dynasty teapots with the cracks of time

Original value

Passionate about many things, playing many sports, but the common point that is easily seen in Truong Viet Anh is that he likes to return to the original value. From the story of going to Nom village (Hung Yen) to meet the oldest Tay cake wrapper to understand the story of Tay cake and the unique cake wrapping technique, to wandering around asking people in Dong Anh (Hanoi) about the dish of braised grass carp with chrysanthemum leaves to recreate that delicious dish in the old style. Even the trips across Bat Trang, meeting the elderly artisans to restore the traditional Tet trays in wealthy families...

Chu Dau blue and white ceramic teapot (kendi) with creative, soaring animal decoration

Chu Dau blue and white ceramic teapot (kendi) with creative, soaring animal decoration

Asked about his journey of collecting traditional delicacies, Truong Viet Anh revealed: “When I find a good person or traditional delicacy, I go there, visit, interview, take photos, write articles; whoever needs further reference, I share everything I know. I realize that the more I share, the more I learn and receive good things from people who share the same passion.”

Collection of "powder boxes" from the Ly Dynasty with sophisticated crafting techniques

Dragon head and parrot tail teapot, lotus petal lid, popular artifact in Vietnamese pottery during the Ly - Tran period

Braised grass carp with perilla leaves is recreated and displayed in combination with ancient Vietnamese pottery.

Simple in communication and dress, but when it comes to collections or culinary and cultural topics, Truong Viet Anh becomes strict, detailed, perfectionist and extremely demanding that everything should be preserved and continued as original, the reason is deciphered: “I believe that when it comes to culture and heritage, no matter what the topic, the most important thing is to express the original value. When you understand the original and have a foundation, it will be easy to continue developing. I do not support the way of borrowing heritage or cultural values ​​of the past and then adding to them; doing it right is better, doing it wrong can easily cause others to have a distorted and incorrect view of heritage”.

Thanhnien.vn