"Meet" Chu Dau pottery in Hoi An ancient town

Many valuable artifacts originating from Chu Dau pottery and still quite intact are on display in Hoi An.

In the ancient town of Hoi An - a place recognized by UNESCO as a world cultural heritage, there is a unique ceramic museum. That is the Hoi An Trade Ceramics Museum. This is where many precious artifacts are displayed, including ancient Chu Dau ceramic lines of Hai Duong.

Large collection

The Hoi An Trade Ceramics Museum was established in 1995, with the help of Japanese experts. The museum is currently located at 80 Tran Phu (Hoi An City, Quang Nam Province). This is a very attractive address for tourists when visiting Hoi An ancient town, especially those from Hai Duong - the origin of the famous Chu Dau ceramic line.

The museum currently displays about 400 artifacts, dating from the 9th to the 19th century, found at archaeological sites in Hoi An. The museum is a typical 2-storey house with a wooden balcony built around the 19th century. Here, one can see the overall space typical of ancient house architecture in Hoi An, divided into 3 parts: the front house, the back house and the toilet. The sky yard is arranged between the front and back houses, the kitchen and toilet area are at the back.

In the museum grounds, Chu Dau pottery from Hai Duong is given solemn spaces to introduce to visitors the origin and excavation sites of the artifacts. In the display areas, most of the Chu Dau pottery is introduced as: Artifacts excavated from the Cu Lao Cham shipwreck. Chu Dau pottery (Vietnam). XV-XVI centuries.

Notably, most of the Chu Dau ceramic artifacts on display are still quite intact. The patterns and motifs are still sharp, showing the skillful craftsmanship of the ancient Chu Dau artisans. The artifacts mainly include bowls, plates, gourds, lime pots, and parallel sentences... with a variety of colors such as yellow, eel skin, purple, green...

Salvaging the Chu Dau ceramic ship in the waters of Cu Lao Cham (photo taken from Hoi An Trade Ceramics Museum)

According to the Hoi An Center for Cultural Heritage Management and Preservation, most of the artifacts on display at the museum, including Chu Dau pottery, were salvaged from a location on the seabed 15 km north of Cu Lao Cham, 20 km east of Da Nang peninsula and about 30 km from the mainland. The site is determined to be about 80 m deep. These pottery items date back to the 14th - 15th centuries and were produced by kilns in the North. Many of the pottery items were not destroyed because they were in the sea mud. A large number of the pottery items were identified as trade goods and were on a Vietnamese merchant ship sailing south, which sank near the waters of Cu Lao Cham. The merchant ship was determined to be going to Southeast Asian countries...

With about 400 artifacts dating from the 9th to the 19th century found at archaeological sites in Hoi An, it vividly reflects the ceramic trade route at sea in previous centuries, when Hoi An was still a gathering place for maritime trade exchanges of East - West - Asia - Europe merchant ships.

The vitality of ancient ceramics

During its development journey, Chu Dau pottery has been identified in many countries, showing that craftsmen have reached a certain level to be able to produce quality, artistic products and transfer them to foreign markets.

Information from the Hoi An Museum of Trade Ceramics confirms that Vietnamese commercial ceramics were produced in major centers including Chu Dau, Hai Hung (present-day Hai Duong), Bat Trang (Hanoi) in the North and Binh Dinh in the South. The Hai Hung center played a major role in the production of Vietnamese commercial ceramics during this period with famous kilns such as Chu Dau, Cay... The products of these kilns were blue and white ceramics and colored ceramics painted on glaze.

Hoi An Trade Ceramics Museum is a place to display hundreds of artifacts, including Chu Dau ceramics from Hai Duong.

Entering the 17th century, Vietnamese commercial ceramics suddenly disappeared from the world market. Until now, Vietnamese ceramics of this period have only been found in Japan. The Japanese ceramic market continued to import Hai Hung products, with bowls and plates painted with chrysanthemums in blue and rust on an opaque white glaze. Vietnamese commercial ceramics, including Chu Dau from Hai Duong, have made an important contribution to promoting economic and cultural exchanges between countries.

After more than 3 centuries of being lost, Chu Dau pottery has now revived, becoming a valuable export item and a national gift. Today's artisans have introduced a series of new products to the market such as artisan pottery, gold-painted fortune vases, embossed pottery, feng shui vases...

In addition to the artifacts found in Cu Lao Cham, Chu Dau ceramics were also discovered in sunken ships in the Pandanan Sea (Philippines). Currently, there are about 50 museums in the world displaying Chu Dau ceramic artifacts. In auctions, a 54 cm high blue and white Chu Dau ceramic vase at the Topakisaray Museum (Istanbul, Türkiye) was priced at up to 1 million USD. Hundreds of thousands of ceramic artifacts collected through excavations have identified Chu Dau as a center specializing in the production of high-class ceramics in history.

CAM GIANG