85 Years of Đông Sơn Culture

A Đông Sơn drum in the late Giao Chỉ period
Barbier-Mueller Museum, Geneva, Swizerland

In 1924, a farmer from Đông Sơn village came across some ancient bronze tools and weapons when he was fishing on the banks of the Mã River. He found the artifacts in the stretch of field between the Ma River and the range of limestone and schist mountains. This area is the current location of Đông Sơn village (Đông Sơn District, Thanh Hóa Province) and is located about 4.5 km northeast of the town of Thanh Hóa. Since the initial discovery, researchers have excavated and collected hundreds of relics of many types ranging from work tools, household goods, weapons, and musical instruments to jewelry and statues. The term " Đông Sơn culture" first appeared in the early 1930s and became well-known to researchers—especially Western scholars—who have spent quite a lot of time and effort investigating this famous culture.
However, 20 years after the first discovery of Đông Sơn culture, foreign researchers including the French—have just now excavated new sites around Thanh Hóa and Quảng Bình Province. Due to the lack of findings, from the 1930s to 1970s Western researchers held the assumption that the Dongsonians were not native to Viet Nam, but were from northern areas or the West. Thanks to the development of Viet Nam's fledgling archaeology, hundreds more Đông Sơn cultural sites have been unearthed and researched. Foreign scholars once had the exclusive right to do research on Đông Sơn culture, and it was not until the liberation of northern Việt Nam that domestic researchers took charge of this work. In the past Đông Sơn culture was mistakenly associated with the Bronze Age; however, based on new information, we have come to understand that the culture went through a long process of development including four distinct periods: the Phùng Nguyên culture of the Early Bronze Age (4000 years ago), the Đồng Đậu culture of the Middle Bronze Age (3000 years ago), the Gò Mun culture of the Late Bronze Age (3000 years ago) and, lastly, the Đông Sơn culture of the Early Iron Age (2000-2800 years ago).
Đông Sơn is thought to have reached the climax of visual arts. The ancient Dongsonians created a diverse array of objects from tools, weapons, and household goods to musical instruments, jewelry, and artistic statues. Đông Sơn's artistic diversity is not only manifest in the wide range of articles produced (for example: ploughs, sickles, axes, and files), but is also displayed in each local area's different style of sculpting them. For instance, the ancient Vietnamese who lived in low areas made tall, straight bronze drums while those who lived in high areas liked shorter ones with low legs and sloping lower parts. Similarly, people in the North Delta liked heart-shaped or triangular ploughshares while those living near the Ma River liked butterfly-shaped ones. The Dongsonians also had high aesthetic taste. Almost all of the Đông Sơn cultural artifacts working tools, weapons, domestic goods and musical instruments were decorated with various delicate patterns. We can divide these patterns into to these basic categories: patterns that depict people and animals, and geometric patterns. The patterns vary based on their creation methods and the shapes of the artifacts they decorate. Dongsonians were able to create these patterns on curved barrels; the bodies of drums and jars; the curved surfaces of breastplates; the surfaces of drums, axes, spears and daggers; and many other items. The decorative patterns were designed artistically and in accordance with the various shapes of the objects they were intended for. For instance, there are three figures of dancers in feather costumes on the bodies of foot-shaped axes, while their shafts are decorated with pictures of a couple of crocodiles mating. The decorative style of the Dong Son Culture blended a tool's shape and patterns with its specialized function.
Đông Sơn bronze drums are not only ancient musical instruments, but also masterpieces of applied decorative art at its peak during the Bronze Age. They provide a comprehensive look into the culture, architecture, work, battles, and festivals of a people dependent on wet rice farming. By researching Đông Sơn 's art, we have successfully determined the developmental model of visual art in this period. Đông Sơn's Art changed from its early realism to intricate and mysterious stylization in the later period. Monographs about the bronze drums of Đông Sơn have been recognized both inside and outside the country.
 

A separate statue of pelican that goes
with a Đông Sơn jar, Barbier-Muller, Geneve, Swizerland

The ancient Dongsonians paid due attention to beautifying themselves with jewelry made from many materials seashells, terra cotta, animal bones, glass, and agate but the most popular were often made of stone or bronze. The size and design of the almost innumerable jewelry varies greatly. For the most part, Dongsonians used to wear jewelry as follows: earrings on their ears, beads around their necks, belts around their waists, rings and gloves on their hands, rings and foot gloves on their feet, and bracelets on their wrists and arms. All people, regardless of age and gender, wanted to wear jewelry. In Làng Vạc (Nghệ An province), researchers unearthed some hand gloves, foot gloves and bronze rings that made noise. Thus, it seems that jewelry was closely related to music and dance.

There now remain more than two hundred artistic statues made of different materials such as stone, terra cotta, horn, and wood; but most are made of bronze. They include sculptures of humans and animals. A distinct feature of Đông Sơn sculpture is that most of it consists of sculptures that decorate an object rather than free-standing statues. Sculptures were added to the handles of daggers and ladles; the spouts o: ceramics; and the surfaces of drums jars, and candlesticks. As a whole. Đông Sơn sculptures were created in realistic, small sizes, and could be used as toys or totems. Looking back on the development of Đông Sơn's visual art, we would like to make some general comments as follows:
First, successfully proving that Đông Sơn art is native to Việt Nam rather than coming from China or India is the greatest achievement of Vietnamese archaeologists and ancient art researchers. In contrast to the misinterpretations of some foreign scholars, Đông Sơn 's art did not come from China or Northern Europe. It has undergone a constant, progressive development over 2,000 years. Moreover, it has proved to be an open culture that interacted multi-dimensionally with other synchronic cultures.  For example, Đông Sơn bronze drums were influenced by drums in southern China, and both the    mainland    and    islands   of Southeast Asia. On the other hand, the statue art of the Dian Kingdom in Yunnan (China) also influenced the statues of Đông Sơn. Some aspects of other contemporary Southeast Asian cultures also had varying degrees of influence on Đông Sơn's art. Second, the most notable feature of Đông Sơn's visual art is the central role of human beings in nature. They lived harmoniously with nature and living beings yet maintained the center of the universe. They are pictured working, fishing, hunting, singing,  dancing,  playing drums, swimming,   and   defending  their villages. They were simple, gentle people. The images in their artwork reflect the cult of fecundity of wet-rice farmers and their hope for peaceful, happy lives. Third,   in   regard   to  their  artistic   methods,   the   ancient Dongsonians depicted subjects whether dancers, birds, deer, bulls or other creatures in profile instead of from the front. For instance, the image of a dancer on the surface of a bronze drum is depicted from various angles. Its chest is shown from the front while its head and legs are pictured in profile. Similarly, a bird is viewed from the top down except for its head, which is viewed in profile. This style of expression is similar to the multi-dimensional perspective used in ancient Egyptian, Mesopotamian and Byzantine art. In conclusion, the art of the Đông Sơn culture has given us an age-old, native visual art that has retained its own distinct characteristics compared to surrounding contemporary arts. We have always been proud of the Dong Son culture's unique artistic contribution.

Source: Việt Nam University Of Fine Art - Institute Of Fine Art