Bat Trang artisan opens exhibition at Van Mieu

One of the most outstanding artisans from Hanoi’s Bat Trang pottery village – Tran Do, opened his exhibition at Van Mieu (Temple of Literature) on July 7.
The exhibition, entitled “Tran Do Pottery – Looking Back and Experimenting”, introduces Tran Do’s 1000 pottery works.
Tran Do’s works convey the cream of Bat Trang’s pottery crop, using both traditional and renovated techniques.
Visitors can see the character of many ancient enameled pottery styles, like the green enameled pottery of 11th century Vietnam, brown enameled pottery of the Ly dynasty, deep-blue enameled pottery of the Mac Dynasty and multi-color pottery of the later Le – Nguyen Dynasty.
One of the most outstanding works is a statue of the old tortoise in Hoan Kiem Lake.
On this occasion, Van Mieu-Quoc Tu Giam Centre for Cultural and Scientific Activities released a photo book entitled Tran Do Pottery – Looking Back and Experimenting, with photos of over 200 of his best pottery pieces complied by Dr. Nguyen Dinh Chien, Deputy Director of Vietnam Museum of History, a leading expert on pottery in Vietnam.
Tran Do was born in 1957 in Bat Trang village. He began making pottery at the age of 10. He was granted the title “Hanoi Artisan” in 2003. Since 2004, he has created many pottery products used as gifts by the Vietnamese government to foreign guests.