Hanoi region
Dragon ewer 1400s
Porcelain, moulded with underglaze blue decoration, 22.7 x 17 x 7.8cm
Purchased 2000
523.2000
The dragon is a central theme in Vietnamese cosmology. This ewer was part of the Hoi An hoard of over 150 000 ceramics salvaged from a 15th century shipwreck near the historic port of Hoi An in central Vietnam.

Art of Vietnam

One of the earliest and most brilliant cultures of Southeast Asia is the Dong Son culture which flourished in northern Vietnam from the 5th century BCE until it was destroyed by the Chinese Hans in 111 BCE. The Dong Son produced bronzes unique in their casting technique and decoration. The Gallery holds examples of the distinctive large bronze drums which have been found at sites around Southeast Asia and South China. Vietnam was home to the Hinduised kingdom of Champa, which ruled over coastal, central and southern areas from the early 500s. The legacy of the Cham people survives in stone temple sculpture.

Ceramics form the main part of the Vietnamese collection. Made for export as well as local consumption, Vietnamese ceramics range from unpainted wares to monochromes and polychromes, often decorated with uniquely Vietnamese motifs. The ceramics were traded to Thailand, Burma, the Philippines and Indonesia where they were used in burials from the mid 1200s to the 1500s. One of the most impressive blue-and-white ceramics in the collection - for its rarity and its distinctive Vietnamese aesthetic and brushwork - is a pouring vessel in the shape of a dragon.