Craft village · Gốm sứ mỹ nghệ · Fine ceramics

Bát Tràng

Làng gốm Bát Tràng — the kiln village on the Red River

Fifteen kilometres down the Red River from the Old Quarter, Bát Tràng has fired clay since the fourteenth century. The village grew up on a bank of fine white clay, and for most of its history every house was a kiln. The chimneys are fewer now, but the glazes — celadon, ash, the blue-and-white the court once ordered — are still made from recipes nobody has written down.

Wide view of a brick kiln in Bát Tràng, its chimney and stacked saggars, the Red River behind in morning haze, ceramics & porcelain village, Red River Delta, Vietnam

“The kiln opens at dawn because the glaze was decided at dusk.”

Fifteen kilometres down the Red River from the Old Quarter, Bát Tràng has fired clay since the fourteenth century. The village grew up on a bank of fine white clay, and for most of its history every house was a kiln. The chimneys are fewer now, but the glazes — celadon, ash, the blue-and-white the court once ordered — are still made from recipes nobody has written down.

Craft: Ceramics & porcelainGốm sứ
Where: Gia Lâm, Hà Nội15 km from Hà Nội
Practised since: c. 14th centurySeven centuries of firing
Material: River clayFrom the banks of the Hồng
On LangSoul: 1 artisan5 works

01 — The story

Seven centuries at the mouth of the kiln

Bát Tràng did not learn ceramics from anyone. The clay was there, the river carried the wood, and the city upstream needed bowls.

Archive black-and-white photograph from the mid-twentieth century, faded and grainy: loading the kiln in Bát Tràng, ceramics & porcelain, villagers in simple work clothes, old brick and timber

Bát Tràng did not learn ceramics from anyone. The clay was there, the river carried the wood, and the city upstream needed bowls.

The first record of the village is from the fifteenth century, when its white clay was already being carted to the capital. Chinese merchants bought Bát Tràng blue-and-white for Japan and the Philippines; the Lê court ordered altar vessels; and by the nineteenth century the village was firing for half the delta.

Today most of Bát Tràng produces for the trade: quick, bright, and the same. A few families keep the slow glazes — celadon that needs a long reduction fire, ash glaze that varies with the wood — and open their kilns at dawn, the old way, to see what the night has done. We work with those families.

Hands centring white river clay on a kick wheel, wet clay catching the light, in a Bát Tràng pottery workshop, brick kiln door and shelves of bisque ware behind, sage greens and warm greys

The bricked-up door of a kiln being opened at first light, glowing shelves inside, in a Bát Tràng pottery workshop, brick kiln door and shelves of bisque ware behind, sage greens and warm greys

02 — The technique

What makes Bát Tràng ceramics

Clay, glaze and fire: each of the three is decided in the village, and each is where the difference lies.

I

White river clay

Dug from the bank, washed and aged for months in pits until it throws thin and fires pale.

II

Glazes from ash

The village's grey-green ash glaze is made from rice-straw ash and clay; no two kiln loads come out the same.

III

Celadon in reduction

The celadon needs a fire starved of oxygen for a day. Too much air and the green turns to yellow.

IV

Opened at dawn

The kiln is left to cool through the night and opened in the first light, when the glaze colours can be read truly.

Words you will meet

Gốm

Pottery, stoneware — fired clay in general.

Sứ

Porcelain: the finer, whiter, higher-fired clay.

Men tro

Ash glaze, made from rice-straw ash.

Men ngọc

“Jade glaze”: celadon, the grey-green the village is known for.

04 — Works from Bát Tràng

Five works from the village

All fine ceramics works

Celadon tea bowl, crackle glaze

Phạm Văn Đức

$180

Moon jar, ash glaze

Phạm Văn Đức

$720

Pair of celadon cups

Phạm Văn Đức

$120

Blue-and-white plate, lotus

Phạm Văn Đức

$260

All fine ceramics works

Map · Hà Nội → Bát Tràng

05 — Visiting

Come and open a kiln

We take small groups to Bát Tràng once a month, timed to a kiln opening: a dawn start, a morning at the wheel, and lunch with the potter's family. Collectors who have acquired a work from the village visit as our guests.

From Hà Nội: About 30 minutes by car
Best season: All year; the dry months for a kiln opening
Group size: Six people at most

Ask about a visit Ask about a visit

The other villages

The full atlas