Thursday, 1st May 2008 (418 views)

Jewellery making techniques are being kept alive in the Vietnamese city of Hue thanks to craftsmen who have worked to keep them from disappearing, according to reports.

Vietnamese newspaper Nhan Dan states that according to Tran Nuu Nhon, the head of Hue City's jewellery making guild, the crafting of gold jewellery first flourished in the city during the Nguyen Dynasty, when it was an imperial residence.

A jewellery maker known as Nguyen Huu Tuong was the city's "premier artisan" at the time, the newspaper adds, making objects for the imperial household such as their gold seal, a gold book and the emperors engraved gold hat.

Many of these objects are now housed in Hue's Fine Arts Museum - but jewellery makers such as Mr Nhon are keeping the techniques used to craft them in use.

Mr Nhon, who told the newspaper he started learning jewellery making when he was four, uses traditional tools such as precision scales, files, wind pipes, oil lamps and bellows to engrave, carve and inlay his pieces.

Gold jewellery produced in Hue City includes earrings, bracelets and pendants that are often adorned with jade or diamonds.

Hue is located in central Vietnam. It was the home of the Nyguan Lords from the 17th to the 19th century and was the country's capital between 1802 and 1945.

 

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