CHAM TREASURES

The ancient Chams give us insight into a lost way of life.

In 1986 a group of Vietnamese archeologists unearthed some tall terracotta vases from a site in Truong Xe, Binh Dinh province. Decorated with finely carved strokes, the vases were glazed with shiny black glaze, both inside and out.

This type of pottery had first been seen at the Go Ma Vuong site in Long Thanh commune, Quang Ngai province in 1997 and identified as having been produced by the Sa Huyenh culture nearly 4.000 years ago. Researchers had discovered that, during the early part of the Sa Huynh culture, this fine pottery was not only created in villages where wet rice was cultivated but also in coastal village in what is now central Vietnam. Planning a trip to Vietnam? Get the best Vietnam Travel Deals from Viet Vision Travel.

The Hanoi History Museum recently held an exhibition about Cham culture in Binh Dinh province. While the terracotta vases unearthed in Binh Dinh were on display, the exhibition did not offer much information about pre-Cham pottery.

People who are interested in Cham history are always seeking the roots of this unique and artistic culture, which appeared in central Vietnam around the 7th century. Usually, when people think of the Kingdom of Champa they imagine mossy brick temple towers and sensual statues of celestial dancers and deities. Cham pottery seems to be eclipsed by this culture’s magnificent stone and brick sculptures.

Cham pottery went unnoticed until Southeast Asian researchers discovered shipwrecks dating from the 14th, 15th and 16th centuries that contained Cham pottery. In 1990, the discovery of a cache of attention of local and international researchers.

A number of Champa pottery kilns dating from the 14th to 16th centuries have been studied in Binh Dinh, enabling researchers to imagine a relatively busy pottery-making centre in what would later become the kingdom’s political and cultural center. I seems that the Cham pottery in Binh Dinh grew out of the crude pottery workshops located in this same region at the dawn of the Sa Huynh culture.

Following the expansion of King Le Thanh Tong’s realm in the mid-15th cantury, the political and cultural centre of the Kingdom of Champa gradually shifted towards Binh Dinh. For generations, Cham ports had attracted foreign merchant ships. Cham pottery kilns like those in Go Sanh did not produce hight-class products, but ones that were convenient, especially for storing and transporting food and spices. Drawing on their traditions of decorating brick works , Cham pottery adorned their wares with bas relief’s or carved lines, transforming functional items into art works.

Foreign merchants carried these terracotta jars to far flung destinations, and as a result, Cham pottery can now be found in museums around the world. In Vietnam, Cham pots were especially prized by minority groups living in the Truong Son Mountains and Central Highlands. Cham pottery features in the ritual items used by Muong, Thai and other minority groups in Vietnam’s northern mountains.

Besides big glazed terracotta vases, Cham pottery kilns in Binh Dinh also produced bowls, plates and tumblers for daily use. Employing embedded decorations and two main types of glazes – a grass-green ash glaze and a brown glaze – Cham potters in Binh Dinh revealed the influence of regional pottery traditions that can be traced back to the famous celadon pottery of Chine’s Song Dynasty. Visiting ancient Chams is a great treasure in every Vietnam Travel tour in central of Vietnam

Of course, the kilns of Binh Dinh did not produce high-class wares but practical items. Cham potters did not employ soil filtering techniques or access good kaolin pits. Ancient Cham pottery can be recognized by its opaque glaze, dark core and poor filtering techniques.
Cham pottery in no longer a mystery. Visitors can views examples in the Vietnam History Museum, the Ho Chi Minh City History Museum, the Binh Dinh Museum, plus in carious personal collections, including that of Nguyen Vinh Hao, who runs a private Cham pottery museum at 73 Le Hong Phong Street, Quy Nhon town.

Most interestingly of all, the art of Cham pottery did not disappear. The residents of ethnic Cham villages in Ninh Thuan, Binh Thuan and Binh Dinh provinces still practice this simple craft, keeping age-old traditions alive and adding to Vietnam’s artistic diversity.

 

Cham skill works like a charm for potter village

Survival is all due to the Cham, confirms Bau Truc Village People’s Committee chairman Dang Phan of the pottery that is sold out of the Phuoc Dan Commune of central Ninh Thuan Province’s Ninh Phuoc District.

Villager Phu Thi Ngui, 63, explains the effort this way: “Design, colour, size and style that meet customer demand are made possible by the combination of traditional and modern work methods,” she says.

It has also lifted productivity.

But unlike mass production, each product is hand-made to become a distinct work of art fired with the creativity and skill of each craftsman.

“We diversify our products but each decoration and pattern is unique to the Cham,” says Ngui.

Previously, Cham-made products were known for their everyday use – pots, large jars and vessels – but they lost their appeal after 1997 with the rise of plastic utensils.

The Cham craftsmen responded with a change in their production methods dividing their pottery into traditional and fine art.

The right clay

 

Cham pottery from Go Hamlet in Binh Thuan

For thousands of years, the generations in this hamlet, located at Tri Duc Commune, Phan Hiep Village, have grown up learning the pottery skills of their forefathers.

Every day women knead the clay which the men take and mix with water and then mould on a very simple potter’s wheel made of wood. The final products are polished with a layer of clay water.

Products are also fired in the traditional Cham way. First they are dried in the sunshine on vacant land next to the hamlet and then the locals collect straw and firewood to put around and into the products to fire them over night.

From traditional models learned from older generations such as pots, bowls, jars and vessels, the potters in Go Hamlet have also been inspired by the development of the modern market to make fine art productions. The high quality of pottery products from Go Hamlet is due not only to good clay but also to the way they are fired.

With the development of society and the demand for decorated ceramics, many artists have visited Go Hamlet to order products of their own design. The Go Hamlet artists have made some of these designs their own.

 

New photography book delves into Cham culture

Peregrination Into Cham Culture is a co-operative effort between the Viet Nam Institute of Southeast Asian Studies and the EFEO and was sponsored by the French Embassy in Vietnam.

The book, a complete image of the Cham people, was compiled using a combination of research and notes taken by tourists over the past centuries and, is meant to celebrate Cham culture, not examine it in an academic sense.

The book is divided into six sections: the ancient Cham people, ancient towers, ancient sculptures, ancient citadels, ancient steles and the Cham people today.

In the section about the Cham today, the authors provide readers with pictures of the life of the descendants of the ancient Cham culture. There are pictures of the traditional Ka Te festivals, weddings, and funerals, education and healthcare practices, and traditional professions like pottery, weaving, cultivation, and catching fish.