Address: 114 Mai Thuc Loan street, Hue city, Thua Thien Hue province
Time: From Monday to Sunday
Ticket price: VND 30.000
Located at 114 Mai Thuc Loan street, Nguyen dynasty's porcelain museum, the first private facility in Hue, was invested by researcher cum antiquities collector Tran Dinh Son who spent approximate four billion on renovating the ancient house possessed by his great grandfather Tran Dinh Ba - the Minister of Justice Ministry under Nguyen dynasty.
"Do su ky kieu" commonly refers to porcelain items that Vietnamese (Emperor, mandarins and resident) ordered from China in the late 17th century and the early 20th century. Their shapes, colors, patterns, decorated poems and marks were made on request.
Under Nguyen dynasty (1802-1945), delegations dispatched to China not only took the responsibility for their main mission (expressing gratitude, congratulating, etc) but also ordered porcelain items for the dynasty, mainly under the reign of Emperor Gia Long (1802-1820), Emperor Minh Mang (1820-1841), Emperor Thieu Tri (1841-1847), Emperor Tu Duc (1848-1883) and Emperor Khai Dinh (1916-1925).
These porcelain items were diverse in types, shapes and decorative patterns. In addition to ordered motifs; for example, Hue places of interest, adjacent areas, lines of poem written in Chinese and Sino-Vietnamese. There are also other topics such as the four holy animals, landscapes, characters, literary quotes, the four seasons, eight immortals, etc. Porcelain items ordered under the reigns of Nguyen Emperors have their own distinctive features.
This is the first time that artifacts made by craftsmen over nearly 200 years are displayed in a private museum. At the inauguration ceremony, researcher Tran Dinh Son opened "Tinh hoa thu cong my nghe thoi Nguyen" (the quintessence of crafts under Nguyen dynasty) with over 200 artifacts created in conjunction with "tu thu" in Vietnamese traditional daily activities including betel nut chewing, drinking tea and drinking wine. There are porcelain specimens such as trays, knife, box, jar, etc made from gold, silver, ruby, ivory, ceramic, bronze, bamboo, etc,
There is another valuable Nguyen dynasty porcelain collection bringing together unique items in Vietnam such as the bowl on which teachings on correct behavior are carved (Emperor Gia Long); pots decorated with landscapes and elegant decorative patterns (Emperor Gia Long); the dish decorated with golden flowers and leaves (Emperor Minh Mang); the gold inlay dish decorated with dragon pattern (Emperor Khai Dinh), etc. The museum also houses different collections coming from Vietnam and other countries.