Ngu Xa Village, located west of the former Thang Long capital (present-day Hanoi ) has practised the craft of copper casting for more than four centuries. Through the village’s ups and downs, the local artisans have preserved this traditional craft with their wholehearted devotion. Among them, artisan Nguyen Van Ung and his offspring have become famous for having turned out various sophisticated products that demonstrate their talent and skills.

On Tran Vu Street in Ba Dinh District, Hanoi , there is a house that was built, copying ancient designs, where Nguyen Van Ung and his children often meet with their craftsmen friends and others interested in copper casting, to discuss and exchange information about the craft and new product models. Apart from being a meeting place, the house also serves as a showroom for various copper art works cast by Ung and his family members.  It has become a familiar and credited place not only for domestic customers, including many Hanoians, but also foreigners who often come to place large orders for products.

steps in producing a copper cast product. They included how to select the soil for mould making, how to differentiate copper and aluminium materials and how to carve each design carefully so it will have an artistic and aesthetic value. Since he was a little boy, Ung was fuelled with a passion for this traditional craft.

Over the years and through the historical ups and downs that the country experienced, copper casting in Ngu Xa Village began to decline, partly because most customers changed their likings from using copper cast household utensils to those made from aluminium. To maintain the craft, Ung had to produce aluminium products and with profits earned from them he made copper cast items. By doing so Ung hoped that the craft would be revived and again prosper.

With the country's shift to the market-oriented economy, helping improve people's quality of living, Ung took full advantage of the situation and developed a copper casting operation with a wholehearted passion. After thorough research and studies of each model, the materials and production processes as well, Ung produced many products much sought after by customers. His products are of high artistic value with reasonable prices, hence attracting the interest from many domestic and foreign customers. More and bigger orders for his copper cast products were placed, some of which reached to billions of Vietnamese dong. To expand production Ung rented a larger space for the workshop and recruited more workers. His skills and experience have been picked up by his two sons and many young workers, helping them earn more and stabilize their life.

Among so many copper products cast by Ngu Xa artisans, the most typical ones are the statue of Buddha Amitabha, 14 tonnes in weight (including the base) and 3.95m in height at Than Quang Pagoda in Ngu Xa Village, and a 3.6-tonne statue of Huyen Thien Tran Vu (the Guardian) at Quan Thanh Temple in Hanoi. In addition there are many smaller worshipping objects available that are being sold both at home and abroad.

With a great passion for the craft, preserved by his co-villagers, Ung has spent a lot of time and effort researching new products and training his children and together they turned out various products that helped in exposing the fame of Ngu Xa artisans. Since 1991 they successfully cast such works as: a statue of Duc Ong (Lord), 1.50m in height and over 400kg in weight, at Huong Tich Pagoda in Hanoi; two statues of the sitting Bodhisattva, 1.2m in height and nearly 200kg in weight at Du Hang Pagoda in Hai Phong City; a statue of the sitting Sakyamuni, 2.20m in height and 2,057kg in weight at An Da Pagoda in Hai Phong City; and most recently a bell, 5 tonnes in weight and 3.6m in height hung in the bell tower of Dong Loc T-Junction Relic in Ha Tinh Province.

Ung recalled: "Casting copper to make sophisticated works is really an art that absorbs the quintessence of various fields, including culture, religion, painting and most of all the heart of the artisan. It is not really a difficult undertaking, but it requires the producer's thorough concentration, diligence, care and skills to turn out worthwhile pieces, each having a soul."

It is artisan Ung who over the years has kept the flame in the copper casting kilns in Ngu Xa Village burning. At present, the Mai Hoa copper casting workshop owned by Ung has many young workers, including his grandchildren who are learning and preserving this long-standing traditional craft along with contributing to the village’s development.

Story: Huu Tuan
Photos: An Thanh Dat – Nguyen Quyen
(Vietnam Pictorial)