A gold-plated bronze statue of General Tran Quoc Tuan, created by artisan Le Ba Chung from Kieu Ky village, is among those to be auctioned (Photo: VNA) Hanoi (VNA) - Vietnameseantiquities and art treasures with great historical and cultural value will beauctioned on August 19 in Hanoi, marking the first time a professional auctioncompany authorised by the Hanoi People’s Committee to sell the country’santiquities.
“All treasures that will be auctioned thistime were evaluated by leading experts and we completed all necessary juridicaland scientific dossiers granted by competent institutions to guarantee thequality and legality of those treasures,” said Quan Van Minh, chairman of theNo.5 National Auction JSC, at a press conference on July 10.
Three unique antiquities on the blockinclude a 2,000-year-old bronze vessel of the Dong Son culture; a ceramic jar with brown patterns from the TranDynasty (13th century), and an enamel box of the royal family from the Nguyen Dynasty(mid-19th century). The latter is a treasure of the Hue Imperial Court, whichwas used to contain offerings to the Kings and members of the Nguyen royalfamily.
Minh said Vietnamese and internationalcollectors can buy those three antiquities, but the bronze Dong Son vessel,which has an initial price of 995.45 million VND (43,769 USD), cannot beallowed to leave Vietnam.
Bui Van Liem, Deputy Director of theInstitute of Archaeology, explained that it was a rare antiquity and veryintact, possibly one of the largest bronze vessels of Dong Son culture andnever seen in museums or private collection before.
In addition to those antiquities, ajewelery set of two star ruby gemstones exploited in Yen Bai province will alsobe auctioned. Their initial price is set at 1.7 billion VND (74,770 USD).Organisers said that star ruby is one of the rarest gemstones in the world. Dueto excessive exploitation, the gemstone resource seems to be depleted and isnow only found in a few countries.
Five gold-plated bronze statues of13th-century General Tran Quoc Tuan, created by artisan Le Ba Chung from KieuKy village, will also be auctioned.
Kieu Ky village in Gia Lam district on theoutskirts of Hanoi is well-known for its gold-leaf making over the last 300years and is also the only village in Vietnam adept at this craft. A skilledcraftsman can use 3.75 grammes of gold to make a sheet of gold covering onesquare metre. This marks the first time products from this village areauctioned.-VNA
VNA
