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| Carving Buddha statues__Photo: http://vanhoanghethuat.vn/ |
Located 40 kilometers north of the old imperial city of Hue in centrally run Hue city, My Xuyen traditional wood carving village in Phong Hoa commune, Phong Dien town, has been famous for relief and incised wood carving techniques as well as hand-carved wooden statues, furniture and ‘ruong’ houses.
My Xuyen villagers believe that the founder of wood carving craft was Nguyen Van Tho, a carpenter from the northern province of Thanh Hoa who married to a woman in My Xuyen village. In 1802, after ascending the throne and becoming the first emperor of the Nguyen dynasty, King Gia Long mobilized skillful craftsmen from all over the country to Hue to build the Royal Citadel and Tho was one among them. After completing his service at the Court, he returned to his wife’s hometown and passed on the wood carving craft to villagers. Today, on the fifth day of the first lunar month every year, My Xuyen villagers hold an incense-offering ceremony to show their gratitude and respect to their ancestor.
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| A wooden house frame connected totally by mortise-and-tenon joints__Photo: VNP/VNA |
Artisan Ngo Duc Phi, who has 42 years of experience of wood carving, said carving wood logs into unique soulful statues requires aesthetic sense, creativity and dexterity apart from techniques.
Hand-carving a wooden item is a time-consuming process that needs patience. The process begins with sketching pattern layouts on wood with a pencil or a chalk. After that, the artisan roughly chisels the wood log to create the shape he had in mind. This step takes less time but requires precision. That means if a small mistake is made, the wood log may be wasted. Once the layout is done, he will painstakingly chip away unnecessary pieces from the wood and sculpt it into the object he wants. Finally, he polishes the product until it is glossy. For bigger objects that consist of multiple details, My Xuyen villagers use the mortise-tenon joinery technique to assemble them.
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| Maitreya Buddha statues made by My Xuyen carpenters__Photo: http://vanhoanghethuat.vn |
My Xuyen carpenters have made the name for themselves for many products and one of them is ruong house, which is traditional wooden architectural work, usually with three compartments and two lean-tos. Of ruong houses which still exist until today, Le Van clan’s worshipping house can be considered a typical example of the joinery technique and the crystallization of the most exquisite and skillful work of My Xuyen villagers in the 19th century. It is made of four roof trusses and 48 large pillars. All pillars, crossbeams and roof rafters of the house are adorned with stylized flowers, and dragon, unicorn, tortoise and phoenix images - the symbol of braveness, imposingness and strength. The house still retains many intricately carved wooden worshipping objects, including the ancestral altar, ancestral tablets, fruit trays, square trays, and especially beautiful crane-on-turtle statues.
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| A showroom displaying sculpture works at My Xuyen traditional craft festival__Photo: VNA |
Nowadays, My Xuyen villagers have constantly made efforts to create new designs and patterns to meet the demands of customers at home and abroad. Their renowned products are Buddha statues, tables and chairs made from tree roots, sets of long benches and tables, paintings, clocks, vases and lamps.-
