Ðông Hồ Portfolio Nhân Nghĩa - Em Bé Ôm Cóc (The Baby Holding the Toad)
Dong Ho Portfolio (2)
Traditional Vietnamese folk woodblock print on plant fibrous paper vertically depicts a centralized baby-like human figure hugging a giant frog in mimicked frog squat with a small floral form and characters to the right of the figure.
Name/Title
Ðông Hồ Portfolio Nhân Nghĩa - Em Bé Ôm Cóc (The Baby Holding the Toad)Entry/Object ID
2019.P-G.078CDescription
Traditional Vietnamese folk woodblock print on plant fibrous paper vertically depicts a centralized baby-like human figure hugging a giant toad in mimicked frog squat with a small lotus flower and Chữ Nôm characters to the right of the figure.Context
Also titled Nhân Nghĩa (Humanity). The painting depicts a child hugging a toad. In Vietnamese folklore, the toad in the story "Cóc kiện trời" (The Toad is the Uncle of Heaven) goes on a journey and challenges to sue the Sky to demand rain for the villagers faced with a drought. This painting would be displayed during Tết (Lunar New Year) to wish for the boy to grow up with qualities of righteousness and benevolence similar to the toad. The Chữ Nôm characters "Nhân" (仁) means "humanity" or "benevolence," referring to compassion, kindness, and the moral obligation to treat others with respect and care. "Nghĩa" (义) means "righteousness" or "justice," representing the sense of duty, integrity, and doing what is right. This painting is also sometimes known as "Trai tài ôm cóc tía" (The Talented Boy Hugging the Purple Toad) and is paired with the painting of the girl holding the turtle. 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 CollectionEthnography
Cultural Region
* Untyped Cultural Region
VietnamCulture/Tribe
Dong Ho