View ancient embroidery

(Baonghean)Ancient embroidery paintings were thought to have disappeared due to time and the harsh climate of the tropics. However, Nghe An Museum is fortunate to still preserve dozens of precious ancient embroidery art paintings. And if you know, currently in Vietnam, there are very few such paintings left, you can see how valuable this "treasure" is...

The first time I heard about those paintings was nearly 5 years ago. By chance, Mr. Truong Dac Thanh - former Deputy Director of Nghe An Museum, mentioned a very special embroidery collection that Nghe An Museum had collected. At that time, despite many requests, due to "confidentiality" reasons, we did not have the opportunity to admire it. However, the "obsession" with the introduction of that "unique" collection haunted me for many years. Today, seeing it with my own eyes, I understand that the caution and "confidentiality" of that embroidery collection is really necessary.



Museum staff appraise and inventory embroidery works.

With the consent of Mr. Nguyen Duc Kiem - Deputy Director of the Museum, I followed Ms. Nguyen Thi Mai to the Research and Inventory room, where these unique works are preserved and kept. Ms. Mai gently opened the aluminum cabinet and slowly lifted the painting up as if she were cherishing a treasure. Next to a precious work of art, looking at it, I felt the color of time, felt the sophistication and meticulousness of the ancient artisan before his brainchild; I could imagine the person who collects and enjoys paintings and considers it a hobby to show his class...

On the painting, Chinese characters are embroidered on the top or sides of the painting, recording the date, dedication to the owner and congratulations. Most of the paintings currently preserved were embroidered around the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Some paintings have the date of completion or the time of gifting such as "Bao Dai cuu nien dong" (Bao Dai winter 1935) or "Long Phi Giap Than Manh Xuan" (Bao Dai spring 1944), Bao Dai Mau Dan ha (Bao Dai summer 1938)... Each painting has different content, but usually in the paintings there are both images of animals and images of plants, such as paintings with the theme "Pine, crane, lotus, butterfly", "Peacock, bamboo, chrysanthemum, butterfly" "Pine, eagle", "Peacock - Peony". In addition, depending on the meaning of each special occasion, each painting has different illustrations, paintings to celebrate longevity often have the words Phuc - Loc - Tho, paintings to give to homeowners on the occasion of the New Year have the theme of Phu Quy Truong Xuan... These are all familiar images in folklore symbolizing wealth, luxury, strength, purity such as: Crane symbolizes Longevity, peacock symbolizes peace and prosperity; peony combined with swimming fish symbolizes "Abundant wealth" which is a good wish on the first day of the year; pine, bamboo, and apricot symbolize the patience of a gentleman, lotus symbolizes nobility, clarity, and purity...



The painting with the theme of Wealth - Nobility - Longevity - Spring is the largest painting with a length of 190 cm, a width of 100 cm. The painting has two layers on a red silk background, the underside is white coarse fabric, the border is yellow brocade, the face of the painting is embroidered with the image of the longevity god, on the right is a beautiful young girl with jet-black hair. Standing on the left is a boy holding a flower branch to offer the longevity god... She carefully showed me each stitch of embroidery on the painting, there are places like the girl's hair bun, the embroidery is thick, jet-black like a real hair bun. Ms. Mai said: The painting is determined to date from the beginning of the 20th century, more than a hundred years old, but the color of the stitches is still very natural, not faded. The embroidery technique is also extremely sophisticated with embroidery styles such as head-to-head embroidery, block-to-block embroidery, twisting embroidery, canvas-wrap embroidery... graceful and delicate.



Another painting with the theme of Bamboo - Birds, Lotus - Butterfly is embroidered on a pink silk background. The painting has a bamboo clump and two storks, on the bamboo branch are embroidered two sparrows, a chrysanthemum branch with many flowers and two butterflies flying around. The painting is embroidered with many colors of thread and most of them are natural dyes taken from brown tubers, turmeric, henna leaves, pagoda flowers, indigo leaves, seashells... with five basic thread colors: yellow, red, purple, blue, green... Ms. Mai also said: It is this natural element that makes the uniqueness of ancient embroidery paintings, because the thread is usually very durable. The paintings are all embroidered by hand, so each one has its own unique shade and soul, unmistakable.

Asking the most knowledgeable people at Thong Nhat Embroidery Cooperative (Vinh City), they also do not know exactly where the above works were embroidered in Nghe An, Ha Tay, Hue, or elsewhere. The people who have worked the longest at the Museum only know: These are paintings taken from landlords and mandarins of Nghe An since the land reform period, some of them are clearly stated to have originated from the landlord Lang Vi Nang's house (belonging to Don Phuc Cooperative, Luc Da Commune, Con Cuong District), or Hung Van shop, Nghe An Province. Due to the "unique" nature of the hand-embroidered products, each painting here can be considered a special work of art.

In 2006, Dr. Pham Quoc Quan, former Director of the Vietnam History Museum and Dr. Nguyen Dinh Chien, member of the Central Science Council, came to Nghe An Museum to appraise the above paintings and said that these were extremely valuable works, their value if brought to the market could reach ten digits. The museum's colleagues also jokingly said: At that time, Dr. Pham Quoc Quan really wanted to have these works to display at the Vietnam History Museum, but later he honestly said: This valuable thing, the Nghe An friends collected, must stay in Nghe An. Currently, the Vietnam History Museum has also collected nearly 100 ancient art embroidery paintings embroidered in the first years of the 20th century. In 2009, the museum first exhibited the above exhibitions and received the attention of many viewers as well as artisans and art researchers.

Not only large-sized embroidered paintings, Nghe An Museum currently also preserves many other hand-embroidered works on pillowcases, hats, shirts, tablecloths, reliefs, ceramics... To preserve and preserve these valuable works, over the past 50 years, generations of cadres and employees of Nghe An Museum have made great efforts to collect and preserve them. Along with that, many appraisal sessions have also been organized to bring the artistic embroidered paintings back to their true value. Although they are so attentive, the people who silently do the preservation work still have many concerns when the efforts and hearts of people seem to not be able to overcome the harshness of weather and time. Many works after more than a century of existence have begun to tear and rot. Ms. Mai herself and her sisters in the Inventory and Preservation Research Department, faced with that situation, despite their great efforts, could only protect the outside. What is deeper and more necessary are the conditions for means and equipment for preservation; But those things are beyond their capabilities.

My Ha