Đồ đồng trang trí · Decorative bronze · Edition of 8
Incense burner, cast bronze
Đúc đồng — bronze cast in a sand mould, in one pour before dawn, and chased by hand afterwards.
Nguyễn Văn Sơn
Cast in a sand-and-clay mould built around the form and dried for weeks, poured before dawn in one continuous movement, and broken free. What followed — the chasing of the drum pattern into the cooled surface with small chisels — took longer than the casting.
The pattern is the one on the Đông Sơn drums, the delta’s oldest art: the sun at the centre, the birds flying against the clock. Sơn cuts it after the pour, not in the mould, which is why no two in the edition are the same.
- Materials
- Bronze, village patina
- Technique
- Sand-cast in one pour; drum pattern chased by hand
- Dimensions
- Ø 18 × 14 cm · Ø 7.1 × 5.5 in · 2.6 kg
- Edition
- Edition of 8 · Signed and sealed
- Made
- Đại Bái, Gia Bình · 2026
The making
Ten weeks, in four movements
A morning of fire and a season of everything else. The casting is the shortest part of a bronze.
I
The mould
Sand and clay built by hand around the form, dried slowly for three weeks.
II
The pour
Before dawn, one continuous pour. The mould is broken to free the work.
III
The chasing
The drum pattern cut into the surface with small chisels, over weeks.
IV
The patina
The village's mixture, applied and left to deepen. The surface is finished by time.
From the same village
