Baur

The Arts of Ancient Viêt Nam

Bronzes and ceramics

1 February 2008 - 4 May 2008

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Over the years, the Baur Collection, Museum of Far Eastern Art has committed itself to showing to the public various facets of Asian cultures, and is now pleased to present an exhibition on the arts of ancient Vietnam. For the first time in decades, an emblematic collection of Vietnamese bronze and ceramic ware, originally assembled by the Swedish archaeologist Olov Janse (1892-1985), and later divided among the collections of the Cernuschi Museum and the Guimet Museum in Paris, has once again been brought together. This ensemble is completed by a number of prestigious Dông Son bronzes from the Barbier-Mueller Museum in Geneva, as well as important loans from major Swiss private collections. The bronze vessels and objects on show present a panorama of the production in northern Vietnam and the surrounding region during the Bronze Age, from the 5th to 3rd centuries BC, while the pieces dating from the Giao Chi period reveal the intense artistic activity which developed under Chinese occupation, from the 1st to the 3rd centuries AD. A wide choice of ceramic ware reflects the growth of this art over a millennium and a half and illustrates the cultural refinement reached under the Ly (1009-1225), Trân (1226-1400) and Lê (1428-1527) dynasties.

Catalogue

  • Baptiste Pierre, Bui Minh Tri, Glover Ian, Viêt Nguyên
    Art ancien du Viet Nâm. Bronzes et céramiques
    136 pp., 75 col. ill., Geneva and Milano, 2007, CHF 60.-

 

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