Day 3 - 26th May - National Museum of Vietnamese History (Part 4)
The Champa collection was small but relatively very impressive. Yet, there's a reason why the pride of the Musée Guimet's Indochinese collection is all Khmer in origin.
Flautist
Garuda
Fragment in shape of warrior rising from mouth of Makara water monster
Garuda and Nagar (bird and snake)
Non-prancing Champa lion
Phoenix head
Lampstands with elephant, dragon, apricot, lotus motifs
Animal figurines
Oil lampsupport in nine dragons shape combined
The lampstands were nice in an exotic way
Oil lamps in shapes of dragon, phoenix
Brick with female figure
Lampstand
Statue of Avalokitesvara (Guan Yin) with many eyes and arms
This was possibly the most number of arms (presumably stretching out in supplication) I'd seen on a statue
Nirvana Buddha
He does look quite chill
Tiger figurines
Incense burner
Lampstand
Panels with dragon and fairy, crane and fairy motifs
Door Panels with Dragon motif
Paintings: Long Live the Sanctuary
Painting: The Scholarly Arts of a Gentleman
Chime
Bells. 19th-20th century
"Basins with base decorated the old calculation of Chinese" (?)
Altar in chair shape
Set of 8 auspicious items for worship
They look like weapons. Maybe to fight off the Chinese
Lintel with characters: "Everything's successful" decoration
Map of Vietnam in Dragon
Mandarin Robes. Note how they resemble the Chinese model
Trivia fact: the colour "Mandarin" is so named because that was the colour of the robes
In general the coloured Vietnamese material had more muted and earthy colours than the Chinese artefacts they were patterned after, so they were uglier. The lines were also coarser. The terracotta was especially bad, with a lot of it looking unfinished. All in all, it was like looking at the work of a student, not a master.
Vietnamese metalwork was good though, and the woodwork quite good. The difference from Chinese models was quite subtle (though more apparent than in other categories).
Painting of Nguyen Trai (replica)
Wikipedia: "Nguyễn Trãi (also known under his style name Ức Trai 抑齋; 1380–1442) was an illustrious Đại Việt Confucian scholar, a noted poet, a skilled politician and a master tactician. He was at times attributed with being capable of almost miraculous or mythical deeds in his designated capacity as a close friend and principal advisor of Lê Lợi, Vietnam's hero-king, who fought to free the country from Chinese rule. He is credited with writing the important political statements of Lê Lợi and inspiring the Vietnamese populace to support open rebellion against the Ming Dynasty rulers. He is also the author of the declaration of independence from China Bình Ngô đại cáo."
For some reason, there's a bust of him in Quebec City.
Female parrot
Male parrot
Dragon Head
