Đồ sứ ký kiểu (ordered porcelains) was the term referring to porcelain items commissioned by Vietnamese (emperor, mandarin, civilian) from Chinese porcelain kilns in the second half of the XVIIth century to the early XXth century, with the specific requests of design, color, pattern, illustrative poem and mark.
Under the Nguyen (1802-1945), the diplomatic missions sent to China were chiefly charged with asking for kingship conferment, showing gratitude, announcing royal funeral, conveying congratulations, and in addition, they had to commission porcelain items for the court, mainly under the reigns of Gia Long (1802-1820), Minh Mang (1820-1841), Thieu Tri (1841-1847), Tu Duc (1848-1883), and Khai Dinh (1916-1925).
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Basin, “two dragons vying for a pearl” pattern. Ordered porcelains under the Minh Mang reign |
Pedestal, “flowers and birds” pattern, bearing the mark 啟定辛酉年造 (1921). Ordered porcelain during the reign of Khai Dinh |
Ordered porcelains under the Nguyen are abundant in types, shapes, and rich in decorative patterns and motifs. In addition to the motifs based on requests such as Hue landscapes and its vicinity with illustrative poems in Chinese and Nom scripts, there are other classic motifs such as four supernatural creatures, landscapes, figures, stories, four plants, eight Taoist immortals, etc. The ordered porcelains of each Nguyen emperor had their own mark. In addition to the ordered blue and white porcelains, in the reign of emperor Khai Dinh, multi-colored porcelains with low relief of famous figures in Chinese history were commissioned.