Les cahiers d'Alain Truong

23 avril 2008

La céramique vietnamienne au British Museum

Coupe sur pied, Culture de Phung Nguyen, ca. 3000-1500 BC, Terre cuite à décors géométriques, British Museum, Londres, don de Sir A.W. Franks, 0AF 3100.

Vue d'ensemble de la vitrine

Jarre, Xe – XIIe siècle, Grès à décor incisé et peint en brun ferrugineux, British Museum, Londres, OA.1931.3-20.1

Verseuse, XIIIe – XIVe siècle, Grès à décor peint en brun ferrugineux, British Museum, Londres, acquisition avec le soutien de Brooke Sewell Permanent Fund, OA.2002.3-26.1

Verseuse (la même que la précédente) et tasse XIVe siècle, Grès à couverte céladonnée, British Museum, Londres, acquisition avec le soutien de Brooke Sewell Permanent Fund, OA.2002.3-26.2 et 3.

Verseuse, deux tasses et bol tronconique. Bol tronconique, XIIIe – XIVe siècle, Grès à couverte ivoire, British Museum, Londres, du Dr. Sheila Macroe, OA. 2002. 2-1.

Trois bols.
Coupe sur pied (premier plan), XIIIe – XIVe siècle, Grès à couverte en brun ferrugineux, British Museum, Londres, acquisition avec le soutien de Brooke Sewell Permanent Fund, OA.2002.2-24.
Bol tronconique (second plan, à gauche), XIVe siècle, Grès à couverte « vert pomme », British Museum, Londres, 0A 1974.9-17.5

Céramiques vietnamiennes
Bol (premier plan), XIIe – XIIIe siècle, Grès à couverte blanc céladonné, British Museum, Londres, legs de Mme B.Z. Seligman, OA 1973.7-26.404
Bol (second plan), XIIIe siècle, Grès à couverte brun à l'extérieur et crème à l'intérieur. British Museum, Londres, acquisition avec le soutien de Brooke Sewell Permanent Fund, OA.2003.7-28.4

Verseuse en forme de phénix, XVe siècle, Grès à couverte verte, British Museum, Londres, acquisition avec le soutien de Brooke Sewell Permanent Fund, OA.2003.7-28.3

Verseuse en forme de qilin, XVe siècle, Grès à décor peint en bleu de cobalt sous couverte, British Museum, Londres, acquisition avec le soutien de Brooke Sewell Permanent Fund, OA.2003.7-28.1

Verseuse en forme de poisson « mandarin », XVe siècle, Grès à décor peint brun ferrugineux sous couverte, British Museum, Londres,acquisition avec le soutien de Brooke Sewell Permanent Fund, OA.2003.7-28.2

Grand vase, XVe – XVIe siècle, Grès à décor peint polychrome, British Museum, Londres, 0A 1967.4-11.1

Grand vase (Détail), XVe – XVIe siècle, Grès à décor peint polychrome, British Museum, Londres, 0A 1967.4-11.1

09 avril 2008

Philippe TRUONG à Washington, le 16 mai 2008

DATES to REMEMBER THE ELEPHANT and the LOTUS MAY 16, 2008

Lecture and Booksigning by Phillippe Truong with his new book: The Elephant and the Lotus: Vietnamese Ceramics in the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston.  Not to be missed opportunity to learn about Asian decorative arts.  A GB Exclusive. He'll be coming to GB from his hometown, Paris France. Introduction by John Stevenson. Text by Philippe Truong. For more than 2000 years, using the excellent clays of the Red River Valley, Vietnamese potters have produced some of the most sophisticated ceramic artifacts in Southeast Asia, dovetailing the Chinese ceramic tradition with other traditions--such as those of Cambodia and Champa--in original and idiosyncratic ways. The combination of skilled potting with somewhat "casual" finish, calligraphic painting and certain chance effects in glazing are all qualities typical of Vietnamese ceramics. Today, partly prompted by several recent archaeological retrievals, these qualities are stimulating the interest of a widening circle of collectors and connoisseurs. The Elephant and the Lotus: Vietnamese Ceramics in the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston considers this vital and hitherto obscured tradition by highlighting over 200 examples from the Museum's superb collection. Ranging from earthy and practical stoneware produced over two millennia ago (the earliest Vietnamese potteries date back to the Hung period in 700 B.C.), to the gloriously decorated ewers and bowls created a thousand years later, or to the fine blue-and-white porcelains produced between the fifteenth and nineteenth centuries (before the advent of French colonial rule), the works gathered here reflect the natural wonders of Vietnam and the ingenuity of its ceramists. With extensive presentations by expert Philippe Truong, including an essay on the natural motifs particular to Vietnamese pottery, The Elephant and the Lotus is both the first complete publication of a remarkable collection and an indispensable introduction to a rapidly growing field of study in Asian decorative arts. Reserve your signed copy at Galerie Brigitte for $75.00 Galerie Brigitte | 11411 Sunset Hills Road | Reston | VA | 20190

29 mars 2008

"Vietnamese Ceramics from the Red River Delta" à la Freer Gallery of Art, Washington

Wide-mouthed jar with inlaid decoration. Vietnam, Red River Delta. Tran dynasty, 13th–14th century. Stoneware with ivory and iron-brown glazes. Purchase; Funds provided by the Docents of the Freer Gallery of Art and the Arthur M. Sackler Gallery

 

Coinciding with the tenth anniversary of the normalization of relations between Vietnam and the United States, this installation of 22 works reflects recent scholarship linking Vietnamese ceramics in the Freer collection with 12th- to 16th-century production centers in the Red River delta in northern Vietnam.

The exhibition—the first major presentation of the Freer's Vietnamese ceramics collection—supplies new understanding of the sources and dates of these works, and highlights their ties to major recent archaeological projects. Works on view include some originally thought by Freer founder Charles Lang Freer to be Japanese, as well as a unique glazed stoneware pillow in the shape of a tortoise that was a gift to the gallery from Dean Frasche. A bowl thought to be Chinese when it was acquired in 1929, but now identified as identical to bowls excavated from the 15th-century layer of the Thang Long citadel site in Hanoi, is also on view.

Freer Gallery of Art - Smithsonian Institution. Jefferson Drive at 12th Street, SW. Washington, D.C.

12 janvier 2008

A rare Vietnamese blue and white ewer - Late 15th/early 16th century

A  rare Vietnamese blue and white ewer - Late 15th/early 16th century

The pear-shaped body boldly painted with peony blossoms and leafy scrolls between a band of large petal lappets below and a stylised ruyi-shaped leafy lappet above, the neck painted with stiff leaves above a band of chrysanthemum scrolls (old repair). 15cm (9¾in) high. Estimate: £10,000 - 15,000 - Unsold.

Footnote: The origin of blue and white wares in Vietnam is still a subject of debate amongst scholars. It is likely that the technique of painting high-fired ceramics in cobalt-blue under the glaze reached Vietnam via China, however there are different views as to how and when this might have occurred. In China, the production of blue and white porcelain in Jingdezhen is well documented and can be dated to the first quarter of the 14th century.
During the period of Mongol rule (Yuan Dynasty), Chinese potters emigrated to neighbouring Vietnam, taking with them the skills and techniques to produce blue and white wares.

For a jar dated to the 16th century with similar decoration see J. Stevenson and J. Guy, Vietnamese Ceramics. A Separate Tradition, p.358, pl.331.

Bonhams. Fine Asian Art, 6 Nov 2006. New Bond Street

05 janvier 2008

A good blue and white pottery deep dish - Vietnam, Late 15th/Early 16th Century

A good blue and white pottery deep dish - Vietnam, Late 15th/Early 16th Century

Thickly potted and carefully painted in bright cobalt outline and wash with a xiangcai band filling the rim flange, flower heads alternating with leaf scrolls along the cavetto and a stylized peony roundel surrounded by a peony petal frame across the slightly convex floor of the well, the exterior walls displaying a jeweled petal band, all beneath a colorless glaze of faint ivory cast, the unglazed recessed base finished with chocolate brown wash (wear to glaze). Diameter 14 1/2in (37cm) - Sold for $20,000 plus Premium and tax

Exhibited: the Urban Council and the Oriental Ceramic Society of Hong Kong, Southeast Asian and Chinese Trade Pottery Exhibition, 27 January-2 April, 1979, cat. no. 211

Bonhams. Fine Asian Works of Art, 20 Nov 2006. 220 San Bruno Ave., San Francisco

29 décembre 2007

Eight small melon shaped jarlets - Vietnam - Late 15th/Early 16th Century

Eight small melon shaped jarlets - Vietnam - Late 15th/Early 16th Century

Each of compressed globular form with vertical ribs and painted with bamboo growing around garden rocks, two jarlets also including birds in the decoration (glazes degraded, chips, staining). 2 5/8in (6.5cm) average diameter - Sold for $275 plus Premium and tax  

Bonhams. Fine Asian Works of Art, 18 Dec 2007. 220 San Bruno Avenue, San Francisco, California

Twelve underglaze blue and enameled small boxes - Vietnam - Late 15th/Early 16th Century

Twelve underglaze blue and enameled small boxes - Vietnam - Late 15th/Early 16th Century

The cover of each box painted with a cursory landscape and the surfaces showing remains of red and green enamel decoration (glazes degraded, chips, staining).2 1/2in (6.5cm) average diameter - Sold for $120 plus Premium and tax  

Bonhams. Fine Asian Works of Art, 18 Dec 2007. 220 San Bruno Avenue, San Francisco, California

28 décembre 2007

Two large dish fragments - Vietnam - Late 15th/Early 16th Century

Two large dish fragments - Vietnam - Late 15th/Early 16th Century

One decorated entirely in red and green enamels, the other with underglaze blue outlines and remains of enamel, centered with a bird on a branch (losses, glazes degraded, staining). 12 and 13 1/2in (30.5 and 34.5cm) diameter - Estimate: $300 - 500 - Unsold.

Bonhams. Fine Asian Works of Art, 18 Dec 2007. 220 San Bruno Avenue, San Francisco, California   

27 décembre 2007

Eight small melon shaped jarlets - Vietnam - Late 15th/Early 16th Century

Eight small melon shaped jarlets - Vietnam - Late 15th/Early 16th Century

Each of compressed globular form with vertical ribs and painted with bamboo growing around garden rocks (glazes degraded, chips, staining). 2 5/8in (6.5cm) average diameter - Sold for $250 plus Premium and tax  

Bonhams. Fine Asian Works of Art, 18 Dec 2007. 220 San Bruno Avenue, San Francisco, California   

A group of twelve blue and white ceramics - Vietnam - Late 15th/Early 16th Century

A group of twelve blue and white ceramics - Vietnam - Late 15th/Early 16th Century

Including eight bell form cups with an auspicious Chinese character inscribed to the enter of a flower head filling the floor and the well; and four circular covered boxes with a landscape painted to the flat top of the cover, the surfaces also showing traces of red and green enamel (glaze degrading, chips, staining). 2 1/2in (6.5cm) average diameter - Sold for $110 plus Premium and tax  

Bonhams. Fine Asian Works of Art, 18 Dec 2007. 220 San Bruno Avenue, San Francisco, California