Đồ đồng trang trí · Decorative bronze · Unique
Temple bell, cast bronze
Chuông đồng — a bronze bell, cast once; the mould is broken to free it, and its voice is set by the thickness of the lip.
Nguyễn Văn Sơn
Cast in the way the temple bells of the north have always been cast: a sand-and-clay mould built around the form and dried for a month, one pour before dawn, the mould broken to free it. The lip was then ground by hand until the note settled — a low A, Sơn says, which is the note the village likes.
The drum pattern was chased afterwards. The stand is Đồng Kỵ ironwood. It is a bell for a garden, a hallway, a room that needs to be entered slowly.
- Materials
- Bronze, village patina, carved ironwood stand
- Technique
- Sand-cast in one pour; lip tuned by hand; drum pattern chased
- Dimensions
- Ø 24 × 38 cm · Ø 9.4 × 15 in · 11 kg with stand
- Edition
- Unique work · Signed and sealed on the reverse
- Made
- Đại Bái, Gia Bình · 2026
The making
Eighteen weeks, in four movements
A bell is the foundry's oldest work, and the one it is most careful with.
I
The mould
Sand and clay built around the form, dried for a month.
II
The pour
Before dawn; one pour; the mould broken.
III
The voice
The lip ground by hand until the note settles.
IV
The pattern
The drum motif chased; the patina set; the stand carved in Đồng Kỵ.
From the same village
