Name/Title
"Ðông Hồ Portfolio Lễ Trí- Em Bé Ôm Rùa (The Baby Holding the Turtle)Entry/Object ID
2019.P-G.078DDescription
Traditional Vietnamese folk woodblock print on plant fibrous paper vertically depicts a baby-like form holding a turtle with a lotus flower and character on the left of the figure.Context
Also titled Lễ Trí (Civility and Wisdom). This painting showing a baby holding a turtle is displayed during Tết (Lunar New Year) with the intention of wishing the baby girl to grow up to be beautiful, gentle, kind, hard-working, and capable like a turtle.
The characters the characters Lễ Trí represents the balance of propriety and wisdom. It suggests that individuals should conduct themselves with respect and good manners (Lễ) while also applying intelligence and reason (Trí) in their actions. This painting is also known by the name "Gái sắc bế rùa xanh" (The Beautiful Girl Carrying the Green Turtle) and is paired with The Baby holding the Toad.
From insert in boxset about series, directly transcribed:
A Brief Overview of "Ðông Hồ" Folk Paintings:
The "Dong Ho" folk paintings have been around for nearly 500 years. The themes of these paintings were inspired by everyday life and created by artisans' observations and experiences.
The main themes include:
Congratulatory paintings, which reflect the common wishes of people: a happy family, longevity, wealth, and prosperity, as seen in paintings such as Phú Quý (Wealth and Nobility), Vinh Hoa (Glory), Gà Đàn (Hen and Chicks), Lợn Đàn (Pigs).
Paintings depicting festivals and traditional activities, such as wrestling contests, drum carrying, buffalo fighting, as well as daily life scenes like đánh ghen (a fight between women over a man), hứng dừa (picking coconuts), thầy đồ cóc (the frog teacher), đám cưới chuột (a mouse wedding), and folklore stories such as Trê Cóc Kiện Nhau (Catfish and Frog Suing Each Other), Đinh Bộ Lĩnh (founding emperor of the short-lived Đinh dynasty), and Bà Triệu (legendary Vietnamese heroine).
Over many generations, artisans creatively used available local materials to craft these artworks.
Initially, the images were carved onto wood, usually wood from the thị tree, thừng mực wood, or vàng tâm wood. These carvings were then printed onto dó paper, which had been coated with a special resin. Dó paper is handmade from the bark of the dó tree, while the resin is made from the shells of dead mollusks, cleaned, crushed, and mixed with rice paste. The mixture was applied to the paper with a brush made from dry pine leaves, creating the texture that gives the painting life.
The artisans used only a few natural materials to create the colors: red from clay, green from tràm leaves or copper rust, white from diệp powder, yellow from the hoè tree flowers, and black from ash made from bamboo leaves or rice straw.
The patterns were carefully printed and harmoniously arranged, creating a unique identity. In the rich collection of Vietnamese folk art, the "Dong Ho" paintings stand out as a distinct form of expression, originating from the village of Dong Ho in Thuận Thành district, Bắc Ninh province.Collection
Palmeri-Goodstein Research Print CollectionMade/Created
Artist Information
Artist
Tranh Dan GianRole
ArtistLexicon
Search Terms
Longevity, Life, Abundance, Wealth, LuckDimensions
Height
14-3/4 inWidth
10-1/4 in