A Chinese 'Bleu de Hue' bowl for the Vietnamese market with the Hai Van mountains, Thanh Ngoan mark for Nguyen Phuc Chu, Kangxi

Dia.: 19,5 cm - H.: 8 cm

Condition: (UV-checked）
- The upper rim with a bronze mount, which shows minor superficial wear and a small superficial dent.
- A small rim chip partly visible under the bronze mount.
- The glaze on in- and exterior somewhat worn.
- Otherwise in good condition, the sound of the bowl intact when tapped.

品相：（已用紫外线光检查）
- 碗口包铜，正常使用痕迹，有一个微小的凹痕。
- 口沿外侧铜边下可见一个飞皮的一部分。
- 碗的全部釉面都有使用磨损痕迹。

The base mark reads: 清玩  - Thanh ngoạn - Qing wan - pure trinket' in zhuanshou script within a double circle.

Provenance:
- The collection of Thomas Ulbrich, Studio Tho, Hanoi-Berlin.

The bowl was commissioned by Lord Nguyễn Phúc Chu (阮福淍 1675–1725) also known as Nguyễn Hiển Tông, who ruled Southern Vietnam from 1691 to 1725.
He is also the author of the famous poem depicted on this bowl titled: 'Spring clouds on top of Hải Vân Mountain' - Ải Lĩnh xuân vân 隘嶺春雲 Mây xuân trên Ải Lĩnh (= Hải Vân ).

The depicted landscape shows the mountainous area, in the Thuận Quảng region between ĐàNẵng and Huế described in the poem.

The poem reads:
隘嶺春雲 - Ải Lĩnh xuân vân
越南衝要此山巔 - Việt Nam xung yếu thử sơn điên,
絕嶺还如蜀道偏 - Tuyệt lĩnh hoàn như Thục đạo thiên.
但見雲橫三峻嶺 - Đãn kiến vân hoành tam tuấn lĩnh,
不知人在幾重天 - Bất tri nhân tại kỷ trùng thiên.
冷沾鬚髮非同雪 - Lãnh chiêm tu phát phi đồng tuyết,
濕濺衣裳豈是泉 - Thấp tiễn y thường khởi thị tuyền.
惟願海風吹作雨 - Duy nguyện hải phong xuy tác vũ,
正宜千里潤桑田 - Chính nghi thiên lý nhuận tang điền.
道人書 - 'dao ren shu' (Daoist Book)
In the leaf: 玩请 - 'qing wan'

Ref.:
- Vietnam National Museum of History, where the article states: In particular, Nguyen Phuc Chu liked to order Chinese-style porcelain wares, on which he gave titles to his poems and drew illustrations of their contents. Up to now, collectors of porcelain inscriptions at home and abroad have collected many porcelain items signed by Lord Nguyen Phuc Chu, mainly large bowls, about 18 cm in diameter, with poems written by the emperor, Lord Nguyen Phuc Chu. Those are seven-word poems, written in white enameled porcelain bowls painted in blue, with the title Thanh Thoc (清玩) written in a seal script in a double circle. Each poem is written in 10 lines, including 1 title line, 8 lines of content and 1 stray line at the end of the poem with three words Dao Nhan Thu. Next to each poem is a picture of painted water - characters, scenes, places that the poem describes. This is the most popular decoration style on the oriental ceramics at that time... (link)

- Cổ vật tinh hoa lists a number of related pieces. (in Vietnamese) (link)

- Song Huong takes a deeper look at the poems. (in Vietnamese) (link)

- Trần Đức Anh Sơn also looks into the poems and compares several pieces. (in Vietnamese) (link)