Phap lam products displayed at the Museum for Hue city Royal Antiques in Hue city.

Nguyen Dynasty books wrote that phap lam (bronze products which are enameled) was popular under the Minh Mang, Thieu Tri and Tu Duc kings (1820-1883). After that golden period, it dropped out of vogue and became lost.

Some organisations and individuals are trying to restore phap lam to serve the restoration of relics in the ancient city of Hue. During the Festival for Traditional Handicrafts 2009 in Hue city from June 12-14, VietNamNet talked with some scholars who share the passion to reintroduce the art of making phap lam.

Dr. Nguyen Nhan Duc, lecturer of Hue Medical University, learned about phap lam by chance and became an expert of phap lam.

He said ten years ago, when he worked as a tour guide for a group of Hanoian teachers at the tomb of King Minh Mang, he saw phap lam for the first time in Sung An palace.

At the beginning, he was curious to learn how phap lam was made because people said that phap lam was very rare. Gradually, the medical expert became enthralled by phap lam. He sought all documents about phap lam. He often went to China for business and these were opportunities for him to learn about phap lam.

When he had learned as much about phap lam as he could, he registered with the local department of science and technology to research phap lam to serve the restoration of Hue relics in 2003.

After over two years of research, the medical doctor created three samples of phap lam, which are used to restore historical relics in Hue.

Nguyen Nhan Duc

Tran Dinh Hiep

Do Huu Triet

Do Huu Triet, from the Centre for Preservation of Hue’s Relics, has worked with phap lam for over ten years. Triet said there are 17 kinds of phap lam in the world but his centre can create three kinds. Triet and his team aim to reach the world’s level for phap lam.

Triet said that though his team has achieved some success in phap lam technique, they are unable to restore phap lam as a handicraft. Triet and his co-workers are working on a project to research, apply and develop phap lam as a handicraft.

Triet opened his Sao Khue Phap Lam Technique JS Company in 2004 to restore phap lam techniques. Sao Khue currently offers various phap lam products, using red bronze, ranging from folk paintings to decoration patterns and modern objects.

Engineer Tran Dinh Hiep, director of the Hue’s Ancient Ceramic Production Enterprise, has conducted thousands of experiments during his research of phap lam techniques to understand the nature of phap lam.

According to Hiep, Hue’s phap lam originated in China but the Chinese phap lam technique was transferred to Vietnam in an incomplete form, especially the technique to create the colours of enamel.

Hiep’s enterprise has just completed a contract to provide 150 tonnes of Hue phap lam (600mmx800 in size) to a company in Kansas, the US.

PV