Sơn mài · Lacquer · Unique
Eggshell vase, tall
Vỏ trứng — eggshell inlay; lacquer has no true white, so duck eggshell is pressed in to make one.
Đỗ Thị Hương
A turned jackfruit form covered entirely in duck eggshell, fragment by fragment, each sorted by its curve so the cracks between pieces draw the light the way veins draw it in marble. Then lacquer over the shell, sanded back under water until the white surfaces, twelve times.
Hương’s whites were her mother’s before her. This is the largest surface she has covered in a single piece.
- Materials
- Natural lacquer, duck eggshell, on turned jackfruit wood
- Technique
- Sơn mài — 12 layers; full eggshell surface, wet-sanded
- Dimensions
- Ø 14 × 36 cm · Ø 5.5 × 14.2 in · 1.2 kg
- Edition
- Unique work · Signed and sealed on the reverse
- Made
- Hạ Thái, Thường Tín · 2026
The making
Twelve weeks, in four movements
Eggshell is the slowest thing in the village. A vase is a moon with no edges.
I
The form
Jackfruit wood turned and sealed with cloth and clay.
II
The shell
Duck eggshell sorted by curve and pressed into wet lacquer over the whole surface.
III
The coats
Twelve coats of lacquer, each sanded back under water until the white shows.
IV
The polish
Polished by palm until the shell is level and the cracks shine.
From the same village
