Location: Dinh Cong Jewelry
Village is located on the To Lich river bank is Dinh Cong Thuong Village,
also called Dinh Cong kim hoan (Jewelry). It belongs to the present
Thanh Tri District, Hanoi.
Characteristic: The name of the village shows us it is already famous for
jewelry handicraft.
The
Dinh Cong Jewelers used to relate the following story: during the Ly Nam De
period (571 - 603), in the To Lich River area, there were three orphan
brothers of the Tran family called Tran Hoa, Tran Dien and Tran Dien, who
originated from Dinh Cong Village. After a period of exile in the war, they
learned jewelry making and came back to their native village and opened a
jewelry shop called "Kim Hoan", taking the gold bracelet as their
trade mark. The jewelry they made was very sophisticated. As their prestige
became more well-known, the king got the three brothers to come to the royal
court to make jewelry. The brothers taught people in their village the
profession. Since then, Dinh Cong Village has been renowned for its jewelry,
the skills being handed down from generation to generation. Besides the Dinh
Cong Village, Hang Bac Street in the very heart of Hanoi is an area for
jewelers originating from Dinh Cong Village.
In fact the three Tran brothers are not the originators of the jewelry
handicraft, they simply contributed to the development of the techniques.
About 5 or 6 centuries earlier, ancient China had already appreciated Giao
Chi (the name of Vietnam at that time) as an area rich in gold and
gemstones, and the exploitation of these precious resources was developed. A
Chinese historian in about 187 - 226 A.D. wrote: Sy Nhiep sent to China many
gifts, at first these were gold and silver items. In many tombs of the 2nd
and 3rd centuries, sophisticated gold and jade jewelry such as bracelets,
rings, hairpins, combs, earrings and necklaces have been found.
Under the feudal regimes, kings and mandarins gathered skillful jewelers not
only from Dinh Cong village but also from other provinces to produce jewels
for themselves or to decorate their palaces.
To make sophisticated products, jewelers must master 3 important techniques
relating to the profession, including carving, making and polishing.
The carving technique involves carving a picture, design or motif on jewels,
or on gold or silver pieces. The pieces included necklaces, bracelets and
spittoons.
The making technique involves spinning tempered gold and silver into strings
and then making flowers, birds and animals from these strings to stick on
the jewels. This technique requires a careful and skillful hand, so it’s
mainly reserved for women. The polishing technique making gold and silver
articles by shading not by carving.
The skillful jewelers must master not only these 3 professional techniques
but above all the ancient technique of smelting. To use pure gold (called
also gold foil or gold leaf) for jewelry making, they have to follow the
traditional techniques of "polishing gold".
When the making is finished, the article is ready for polishing. Silver
articles are brushed with sand and then with a solution of soot and lime and
then put on a fire. The article is then immersed in a solution of boiled
alum and finally polished with sand and pieces of glass. Gold articles are
brushed with a solution of pounded brick and liquid salt, then put on a fire
and cleaned. Then they are immersed in a solution of boiled, sour fungus and
finally polished with sand and by pieces of glass.
Looking at the figures and motifs on the articles, one can see the patience,
skill and creativeness of these Vietnamese jewelers. |