Ritual vessel "situla", Bronze Age, 5th - 1st century BC ·  Northern Vietnam, Dong Son Culture · ID: 3052702

Description

bronze,

It is rare to find such a vessel with its original bronze cover, here decorated with the star/sun symbol that we know from drum tympanums.

The Dong-son culture, which thrived in the Hong (Red) River valley in Northern Vietnam from the 7 th century BC to the 2nd century AD, produced a wealth of bronze items. Particularly characteristic are bulbous drums, but vessels, axes, and weapons are also found. The level of technical production was high, as the large scale of many of the objects indicates, but metal must have been somewhat scarce, as the bronzes are often very thin-walled. The characteristic motifs found on these bronze objects, arrayed in a series of concentric rings, includes spirals, geometric
patterns, dots, and occasionally figures with feathered headdresses, houses, birds, and boats.

The vessel described here, a so-called “situla”, is a particular fine and well-preserved example. The design shows large boats with high prows, manned by a group of warriors brandishing spears and shields. They are dressed in loin cloths and wear enormous and elaborate head ornaments. In the rear of each boat squats a prisoner, his hands tight behind his back to a pole. Birds fly over the boats, herons sit on the rudder, while various fish, stingray and snap turtles enliven the waters.

The exact usage of the “situlae” (Vietnamese: “thap”) is not known outside of a burial context, where “situlae” are sometimes found containing bronze and stone implements.

“Situlae” have been found in both Northern Vietnamese and Southern
Chinese burials, but also in various Bronze Age sites in Cambodia and
Northeastern Thailand. In Western collections, comparable “situlae” are in the Musée Guimet and Musée Cernuschi (both Paris), and the Musée Barbier-Mueller (Geneva).

Expertise

Art Loss Register Certificate, ref. S00064451

Comparing literature

Pierre Baptiste et al., Art ancien du Viet Nam (Geneva, Collections Baur), 2008. fig. III.2, p. 12; Monique Crick (ed.), Viet Nam - Collection vietnamienne du musée Cernuschi (Paris-Musées and Editions Findakly), 2006, p. 19, fig. 3.; Jean-Paul Barbier-Mueller, Rêves de Collection (Geneva, Musée Barbier-Mueller), 2003. p. 70 f., fig. 25.

Notices

This object is subject to the UNESCO Cultural Heritage Protection Act. Export documents are required for export (subjected to a fee).