'Child' throne for teenage king Duy Tan

Compared to the throne of the Nguyen Dynasty, the throne of King Duy Tan (who ascended the throne at the age of 7) was much smaller. It was once identified as a throne of worship.

The national treasure Emperor Duy Tan's throne is currently kept at the Hue Royal Antiquities Museum, Hue Monuments Conservation Center (Hue City).

The throne has many dragon designs.

PHOTO: DEPARTMENT OF CULTURAL HERITAGE

Before being brought here in 1994, this artifact was kept at the Trieu Mieu relic warehouse (Hue Imperial Citadel).

According to the national treasure dossier, due to its origin from Trieu Mieu and based on the artifact dossier showing it as a throne, during the period from 1995 to 2022, this throne was still identified as a throne. Only after the 2023 survey and research period, was the throne added to the dossier, confirmed to be the throne of Emperor Duy Tan, dating from around 1907.

According to Dai Nam Thuc Luc , Emperor Duy Tan ascended the throne on July 28, Dinh Ty year (September 5, 1907), as the 11th emperor of the Nguyen Dynasty (1802 - 1945) when he was only 7 years old. To suit the emperor's stature, the court specially made a small-sized throne for use in the king's coronation ceremony. Documentary images show the young emperor sitting on this throne.

In terms of size, the Nguyen Dynasty emperor's throne at Thai Hoa Palace (a national treasure since 2015) is 101 cm high, 87 cm long and 72 cm wide. Meanwhile, the Duy Tan emperor's throne is 94.5 cm high, 50.5 cm long and 62.2 cm wide. Thus, the Nguyen Dynasty emperor's throne is larger than the Duy Tan emperor's throne.

Also according to the national treasure records, Emperor Duy Tan's throne consists of 3 parts.

The top of the throne is the highest position of the throne with the image of the sun consisting of 5 rays, each ray originates from a circular pattern surrounding the sun; surrounding the rays and the sun is a cloud pattern with the starting point and ending point stylized into 2 symmetrical clouds.

The middle part consists of 3 parts: the armrest, the back of the throne, and the throne face. The armrest and the back of the throne combine to form an arc-shaped relief, embossed and carved with decorative motifs symbolizing royalty and longevity. The armrest and the back of the throne are connected by 2 symmetrically arranged dragon images, in the middle of the back of the throne are two stylized longevity symbols. The throne face is painted red with gold-plated lines.

Image of King Duy Tan on the throne

PHOTO: TL BY RESEARCHER VU KIM LOC

The lower part consists of 3 parts: the throne neck, the throne border and the throne legs. The throne neck has a carved pattern of two dragons facing longevity in the front. The main border of the throne is decorated with a tiger face (horizontal dragon face). Similar to the 2 dragon heads on the throne arms, the 2 eyes of the tiger face are made of mother-of-pearl, fixed to the wooden part with 2 horn screws. The two sides of the border are carved with phoenix details, with the head facing the back of the throne according to the theme "Phung ham thu" (phoenix holding a silk strip wrapped around a book). The throne legs have a carved dragon face and 5 claws.

The remaining throne

Regarding the outstanding value of Emperor Duy Tan's throne, the national treasure dossier emphasizes that the artifact was crafted based on the basic principles of the royal court's regulations on manufacturing royal utensils. Despite the fact that under Emperor Duy Tan's reign (1907 - 1916), the Southern Dynasty government was increasingly subject to interference and imposition by French colonialists, because the throne symbolized the power of the dynasty, closely associated with the king, Tat Tuong Cuc (a workshop specializing in producing lacquered wooden furniture for the Nguyen Dynasty's royal palace) still ensured the principles of the regulations.

Therefore, according to the treasure records, the Duy Tan emperor’s throne was decorated with the main design of a 5-clawed dragon. At the armrest, the dragon is shaped in the position of a raised dragon head. The dragon on the throne base is embossed with roughness, bringing majesty, combined with the image of a phoenix expressing a sublime, fulfilled posture. The dragon can also be depicted independently or combined with phoenixes, bats, flowers, leaves, clouds, pearls, inscriptions… to express the desire for longevity, meaning praying for blessings, longevity and good things…

Also at the Hue Royal Antiquities Museum, there is another throne that is also small in size. This has made many people question the simultaneous existence of two thrones.

Researcher Vu Kim Loc, who restored many Nguyen Dynasty mandarin hats, studied photos and paintings of Emperor Duy Tan with a royal hat and robe sitting on the throne (successfully auctioned by Sotheby's at the end of 2021) and these two artifacts.

Emperor Duy Tan's throne

PHOTO: DEPARTMENT OF CULTURAL HERITAGE

According to research, although the photo quality is a bit poor, it is still clear that the two thrones are similar on the back. Above them is a sun shape and below is a longevity character. The sun itself is clearly seen with 5 rays slanting upwards, of which 1 ray above is the center and symmetrical on each side are 2 rays, then all are surrounded by symmetrical cloud bands and have a composition that looks like a flower in a vertical split style. As for the seat and base, a photo shows that the base has a kneeling style. The rectangular base, the throne is placed on top, occupying half of the length at the back, the remaining half at the front has 2 unicorns attached and the emperor's feet are resting on it.

Finally, researcher Vu Kim Loc "finalized" the throne of Emperor Duy Tan among the two thrones in the museum. He said that this would open up further research. "The second throne that the Hue Royal Antiquities Museum keeps, with the evidence of the throne of Emperor Duy Tan mentioned above, also allows to raise the question of whether it belonged to another young emperor or not, while some researchers think it is a worship throne," Mr. Loc commented. (to be continued)

Source: https://thanhnien.vn/ngai-vang-nhi-cho-vi-vua-thieu-nien-duy-tan-185250715221401777.htm