Although only 48 years old, he has "achieved" over 25 years of collecting ceramics and his collection currently has thousands of items, the most of which are ancient Vietnamese vases.
FROM LOVE TRADITIONAL VALUES
Sharing about his affinity with antiques, Mr. Ho Hoang Tuan said: “Perhaps I am a nostalgic type of person, who likes things that have been preserved in national culture. Therefore, since I was young, I have learned and memorized that knowledge through the stories of my grandfather, father and elders in the family. When I grew up, I had the opportunity to expand my knowledge.
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| Mr. Tuan with a 1.2 m high jar stamped with Thanh Le stamp displayed at Tien Giang Museum on the occasion of Hung King's death anniversary with the theme "Reunion of ancient Southern pottery - Tien Giang in 2025". |
We, antique collectors, are people who are going back in time to find the past and compare the development through each stage, up to the present. Looking back to the past can not only learn about objects, but also learn about the customs and habits of the ancients. From there, compare with the present to balance, promote the advantages and eliminate inappropriate things in your own life.
When asked why he sticks with the Southern antiques line and not other antiques lines, Mr. Tuan said that to collect antiques, one must understand the value of the object, not play like a "nouveau riche". That is, when owning an item, one must know what the value of that item is, how precious it is, not to affirm one's own wealth. My family has lived in My Phong for many generations. I like the Southern antiques line because it is close to me and I have certain knowledge about it.
Southern pottery is an inseparable part of the folk cultural life, associated with typical pottery lines such as: Cay Mai, Lai Thieu, Bien Hoa - product lines that were formed and developed since the end of the 19th century. The artifacts not only reflect sophisticated manual techniques, but also demonstrate the aesthetic depth and soul of ancient potters.
TO THE BILLIONAIRE COLLECTION
“After graduating from university, working and saving some money, I started my hobby by buying yellow apricot trees to plant and take care of. To plant apricot trees, you need a pot, so I went online to learn about the ceramic lines: Mai Tree, Bien Hoa, Lai Thieu in the past. Seeing how beautiful they were, I started to love them. Whenever I saw something beautiful and satisfactory, I tried to buy it. After that, I paid attention to pedestals, vases, and other household items made of ceramic and porcelain, and I chose to play with the theme of “The Soul of the South” - Mr. Tuan shared about his journey of collecting antiques.
Researcher Truong Ngoc Tuong said: “To collect antiques, one must have charm, or in modern terms, talent. Antique collectors must understand culture and have a broad and deep background knowledge. In the antique collecting world, there are people who collect for love, people who collect for business, and people who collect to satisfy their passion for knowledge and to spread that passion to those around them. Tuan is a collector of antiques of this third type. Very precious!” |
He said that his collection of old vases once reached nearly 1,000. His way of collecting them is to “use the short term to sustain the long term”. If you buy them and play with them for a while, and then find that they are not to your liking, you can change them to another one. Currently, he keeps more than 300 of his favorite vases. There are more than 500 flower pots and about 100 pedestals. With such a large number, Mr. Tuan’s house, from the inside to the hallway, on the table, on the top of the cabinet, under the plank, has ceramic items everywhere.
In addition to pedestals, pots, and vases, Mr. Tuan also collects jars, teapots, water jugs, and antique lamps... His ABC lamp collection alone has about 30 lamps with many designs and colors: white, red, yellow, purple, blue, navy blue, and bottle green...; among them, there is a lamp with a direct advertisement in embossed letters on the base: "Use ABC kerosene lamps for the brightest light".
Anh Tuan said that when he was young, he loved and read many Chinese stories such as: Phong Than Dien Nghia, Thuy Hu, Tam Quoc Chi, Tay Du Ky... According to him, most paintings on ceramics and porcelain have Chinese patterns and stories. When he started collecting ceramics, in addition to looking up information online, he sought out knowledgeable and experienced people, including veterans in the profession such as researchers Huynh Ngoc Trang and Truong Ngoc Tuong, to ask for explanations and learn.
According to Mr. Truong Ngoc Tuong, there are 3 factors that create the value of an antique: beautiful, old and rare. In Mr. Tuan's collection, he said there are items considered "rare" such as a 1.2 m high jar with Thanh Le stamp, very beautiful. The patterns and images on the jar show typical and simple activities of the South such as: From a child sitting on a buffalo playing the flute, a boy catching birds, rural women in ao ba ba, ao dai carrying baskets, carrying fruits to the market, a hearse, a girl carrying her younger sibling and even a country boy pulling a cart made of clay, taking a dog out for a walk...
In addition, Mr. Tuan's collection also has many other unique items such as: A pair of Mai tree ceramic flower pots with a diameter of 90 cm, unique and rare patterns, very valuable. Then there is the Phuc Loc Tho vase produced by Nam Phong pottery kiln, the Bat Tien vase, the Bat Buu jar...
Mr. Tuan boasted that in August 2017, he brought a 40cm tall gourd-shaped vase to the “Southern Ceramic Products” exhibition in Ho Chi Minh City and won first prize. This is a set of Saigon ceramic artifacts produced by Nam Phong kiln around the 1930s - 1940s, now very rare.
There are items that seem very ordinary but are now less and less seen. For example, the container, some places call it a water tank, which in the past almost every house in the countryside had. It was a "giant" bottle with a capacity of about 5 liters of water. This type of bottle was first made of ceramic, with a copper handle, very elaborate patterns, used in rich houses, large landlord houses. Later, Lai Thieu pottery produced a popular line with a simple iron handle, which most families in the countryside used to make tea at parties and store water to bring to the fields, enough for 3-4 people to drink in a session.
SPREAD THE LOVE OF ANTIQUES
Not only does he collect antiques to satisfy his own interests, Mr. Tuan also spreads his love for antiques to the surrounding community. Since 2013, he has begun sharing his collection so that people around him can enjoy it by collaborating with the Tien Giang Provincial Museum and other museums in the region to display artifacts.
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| Mr. Tuan introduced the traditional pottery of the ancient Southern people during the exhibition at the University of Social Sciences and Humanities, Ho Chi Minh City last May. |
In recent years, every year, Mr. Tuan has connected with many other collectors in the region to participate in the exhibition at the University of Social Sciences and Humanities, Ho Chi Minh City. According to Mr. Tuan, the rich, diverse, and unique ceramic products bearing the unique identity of ancient Southern pottery kilns displayed at the exhibition are not only a place for students to admire and enjoy the beauty of ceramic antiques, but also a place to feel, learn and arouse love for the historical evidence of the Southern region that has now become the cultural heritage of the nation.
WATER RIVER
Source: https://baoapbac.vn/van-hoa-nghe-thuat/202506/nha-suu-tap-ho-hoang-tuan-lan-toa-tinh-yeu-voi-hon-xua-nam-bo-1045032/
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