A unique "museum" of antiques.

(Baonghean)Having been passionate about antiques for over twenty years, it wasn't until this year that Mr. Dang Xuan Hoang was able to create a space with a distinctly Vietnamese character to display them…

To realize this dream, Mr. Dang Xuan Hoang returned to Hung My (Hung Nguyen), his ancestral homeland, a place he had left many years ago for the sake of making a living. Few people know that creating a space that is both authentically Vietnamese and sophisticated required nearly 10 years of meticulous preparation. During that time, due to limited funds, some years he could only afford a door, other years he could only buy a few house pillars, and some years he focused solely on finding old roof tiles... For a long period, the homeowner sacrificed long trips and meetings to meticulously design his house. Despite being a layman in the field of design, the house is overflowing with emotion and dedication, resulting in an unexpectedly beautiful and simple design. It's even more surprising that the intricate carvings, the elaborate and beautiful wooden paintings, the curves, the moldings... were all made by the skilled hands of carpenters in Quynh Thanh commune (Quynh Luu district), and not by any craftsman from Northern Vietnam...

The entire property, spanning approximately 1,000 square meters, is unpretentious and lacks elaborate structures, yet it makes a strong impression with its meticulous attention to detail. The house is built of wood in the traditional style, with three main bays and two side wings. Both inside and outside, there are numerous large wooden columns, true to the architecture of traditional Vietnamese houses. The roof is covered with curved tiles, decorated with images of flying dragons. The entire floor is paved with fired bricks, creating a warm and rustic atmosphere. Inside, there are many antique horizontal plaques inscribed with meaningful couplets, reflecting the owner's intentions and wishes. Between the spaces between the inscriptions, the owner skillfully displays antique paintings arranged in a "heaven-earth-human" style. At the top are usually four paintings of dragons, in the middle are paintings depicting the four seasons: "spring, summer, autumn, and winter," and at the bottom are images of boys and girls from ancient legends. Standing before an old horizontal plaque, the homeowner, Dang Xuan Hoang, read me the couplet: "Loyalty and filial piety sustain the family for a long time / Virtue and humanity ensure lasting success in life." He explained: "This couplet implies 'Using loyalty and filial piety to maintain a stable family / Using virtue and humanity to conduct oneself in life for a long time.' In a family, if you want it to be strong and lasting, you must prioritize loyalty, filial piety, and virtue. Every era demands that people be loyal, filial, righteous, wise, and trustworthy..."

As a long-time antique collector, the homeowner's perspective is influenced by Confucianism and Buddhism. That's why, when building his new house, he didn't choose Vinh City or a bustling town, but instead chose Hung My to settle down, even though all four of his children currently work in major cities. When asked about this, he smiled and said, "When building the house, my only intention was to create a warm home for my family, a place where everyone can gather and have fun on weekends. As for why I built it in the traditional style, firstly, it's because I like houses with a rustic style. In the long run, this will be the ancestral temple for my family and clan... My family members have contributed a lot of effort to this."

Although he doesn't explicitly state it, one of the main reasons he built this house was to display his collection of antiques, which he has painstakingly searched for and preserved over many years. Currently, his house contains hundreds of antiques that impress anyone who sees them, due to their diversity, uniqueness, and rarity. His appreciation for these items is further demonstrated through their arrangement and display; some are organized by theme, some by era, and others by material. Dang Xuan Hoang has a particular fondness for Vietnamese antiques, so many of the items he has collected are products made during the Ly, Tran, Le, and Nguyen dynasties, most notably Van Ninh ceramics. Alongside these are vases, plates, and bowls made during the Le-Trinh period. For discerning antique collectors, antiques from the Le-Trinh dynasty are always considered treasures because most of them were "royal" items, usually specially commissioned for the use of the emperors. Therefore, from the patterns to the designs, everything is unique and hand-painted, with some items being "one of a kind".

Each item has a fascinating story to tell. One of the items that has been with his family the longest, and which he considers a part of his family's "destiny," is a bronze incense burner with nine lions clinging to its body. Three sides of the burner bear the character "福" (fortune/blessing), each character held in the mouth of four bats, symbolizing "four blessings flying into the house." Currently, this incense burner is quite valuable and it's not easy to find a similar one. Many customers have inquired about buying it, but he has never intended to sell it; the incense burner is respectfully placed in front of the ancestral altar. "Collecting antiques, some things are very difficult to acquire, while others seem destined for you—they call it 'precious objects finding their owners.' This incense burner is one of those things. I bought it from a poor couple in Quynh Chau commune when I first started collecting. Since I've had it, everything in my family has been very fortunate," Mr. Hoang shared.

Mr. Dang Xuan Hoang and his family's antique display space.

Mr. Hoang also specifically showed me a lamp fueled by peanut oil that he had recently acquired. In terms of rarity, it's certainly not rare, as it's only a few decades old. And if you were to call it valuable, that wouldn't be the case either, because it's just an ordinary household item; almost every family had one in the past. The lamp has only two simple parts: a plate to hold the oil and a cotton string used as a wick, but he said it represents "his childhood." Every time he lights it, he sees the image of his mother busily working under the lamplight, sometimes mending clothes for him and his siblings, sometimes getting up early to cook and clean; the lamp also once illuminated the family's meals on cold nights. Dang Xuan Hoang is also a nostalgic person who appreciates elaborate details, so to complement his "antique-style" house, he tries to find antique items for decoration, such as a set of long benches, a set of brass trays, a wooden bed, a cabinet, etc. The homeowner tries to create a space reminiscent of a traditional Vietnamese family home with oil lamps, weathered wooden trays, and red wood clothes storage jars... all very authentic.

Looking at how Mr. Hoang collects antiques, it's hard to believe that he was once a graduate of a security school with 15 years of experience in the field, and that two of his children followed in his footsteps. He recalls, "I regretted having to give up my job so much, but raising four children was too difficult. I worked hard for over a decade, saving up, but I couldn't even buy a bicycle." His connection with antiques began at this time. Back then, due to financial difficulties, many people were selling their old family belongings. His uncle, returning from Hanoi, felt sorry for them and said, "Buy them, or you'll lose everything later." But with nothing, he didn't know where to start or what to buy. In the beginning, the things he bought and sold were very small. Fortunately, antiques were cheap at that time, and after a few exchanges, he accumulated a considerable amount of capital, and from then on, collecting antiques became his "destiny."

Traveling extensively and gaining much experience, reflecting on his long time collecting antiques has given him many life lessons and philosophies. For example, in the past, when he was struggling, he considered it a profession where he could make money by "buying and selling," even become rich. But after witnessing many antiques being sold for a little "self-interest" or due to financial difficulties, he felt regret. Therefore, when he reached an age where he no longer had the heavy burden of raising children or worrying about "food, clothing, and shelter," he realized that what is precious must be preserved, not only for himself and his descendants, but also for the cultural heritage of the nation. Because of this thinking, later on, he not only collected valuable antiques but also old, lost items that are difficult to find again.

Therefore, it's easy to understand why, in his family's display space, besides the million-dollar and hundreds-of-millions-VND items carefully preserved in glass cabinets, there are also extremely rustic and simple items kept in a particularly dignified place. These include a stone rice mortar he bought on a trip to Con Cuong, a bamboo rice mill he found in a family in Quynh Thanh commune, and an old Feralit bicycle with its original license plate that he acquired from a family that was once the wealthiest in Hung My commune. He also has a collection of dozens of old kerosene lamps, which he has stylized and hung along the verandas of his house, a collection of antique books, and a collection of copper and paper money… He doesn't hesitate to travel hundreds of kilometers to any province or city if he hears of a valuable item there, and he's willing to spend a large sum of money to buy it, because he believes "a broken gem is better than a whole tile." He will never sell the things he keeps in his house, because, according to him, the main purpose is to preserve the culture of the nation. He built the old house with the ambition of making it a display space, a place where antique enthusiasts can come to socialize and share...

My Ha