‘Viet Nam: From River Plain To Open Sea’ At Museum Of Fine Arts, Houston

Internally, the geography of the country's central and southern coasts, with its 15 major rivers often separated from one another by mountains, does not lend itself to a unified kingdom. Instead, this part of the country functioned like a series of islands unified by boat. Little wonder then that Viet Nam has been subject to powerful nations while developing its own unique culture.

"Viet Nam: From River Plain to Open Sea" is organized roughly into four chronological sections. Each focuses on one of the famous trade locales within Viet Nam.

The first section coincides with Viet Nam's first Golden Age. Remarkably, scholars place this in the First Millennium BC, an era dominated by two civilizations. The Sa Huynh were in central and southern Viet Nam, around the Mekong Delta. The Dong Son lived in the north in the Hong (Red) River Delta region.

The Sa Huynh, who flourished between 1000 BC and 200 AD, are generally believed to be the predecessors of the Cham people, featured in a later section. They were skilled in the use of iron, as is borne out by the many axes, spearheads, sickles and utensils found in the landmark 1909 excavation of the Sa Huynh site.

It was at this site, too, that more than 200 ancient tombs were found with the remains of cremated adults buried in pottery jars with lids. Ritual offerings accompanying the burials included earrings with two-headed animals made of jade (nephrite) and glass, examples of which are on view.

Sa Huynh beads of glass, carnelian, agate, olive, zircon, gold and garnet — materials not indigenous to the area — point to trade relations. Conversely, Sa Huynh beads have been found as far away as Central Thailand, Taiwan and the Philippines.

Han dynasty bronze mirrors have been unearthed as well. Although the reach of the Chinese at this time is well documented, Chinese scholars wrote little about the "barbarous" Vietnamese, preferring instead to chronicle their own achievements.

Recent excavations in the area reveal numerous Indo-Roman rouletted ware, an Indian trade ceramic generally dated from 300 BC to 100 or 200 AD.

The Dong Son in the north, on the other hand, were advanced bronze casters, known for drums that were apparently used as both musical instruments and ritual objects. (Dong Son drums found in Southeast Asia and southern China were highly prized among Nineteenth Century European collectors.) Among the more famous of these is the Co Loa drum, so large that it is estimated to have required the smelting of one to seven tons of copper ore and the use of as many as ten large crucibles at the same time.

Clearly, this bronze work was an artistic achievement not matched by other civilizations. In fact, it has been postulated that bronze casting was born in Southeast Asia and borrowed by the Chinese, not vice versa.

Burial rites among the Dong Son were also elaborate. One-hundred-and-fifty boat coffins have been uncovered at more than 50 sites in eight provinces in northern Viet Nam. Ironwood ( Erytrophloeum fordii ), from which the boat coffins were made, is still extensively used for house pillars.

By the Sixth Century, disturbances in the overland route through the central Asian steppes appear to have been the inspiration for increased sea trade. Additionally, advances in riggings allowed sailing ships to travel close-hauled and quickly through the area.

The Archeology of Fu Nan in the Mekong River Delta (First–Eighth Centuries AD) sets the stage for the exhibit's second section. Fu Nan was Southeast's Asia's first great economy. Overall, it comprised several major cities connected by canals that weaved across Southern Viet Nam and into Cambodia. These were kept functioning well into the Sixth through Seventh Centuries.

Fu Nan was home to a walled city known as Oc Eo that sat at the crossroads of trade linking Rome, India and China. A manufacturing city, Oc Eo was noted for fine gold jewelry inset with precious and semiprecious stones. Examples of jewelry and goods imported from Rome, China and India of the same period are shown in the exhibition.

Findings from the many excavations that took place in this region in the early part of the Twentieth Century now comprise large parts of the collections of the Museum of Vietnamese History in Ho Chi Min City and the National Museum of Phnom Phen.

The results of the digs point indicate that the Mekong Delta, like much of Southeast Asia, had, by the Fourth or Fifth Century, been "Indianized." Buddhism, Hinduism and its related art forms can been seen in the temple statuary and architecture. Experts say that it is even reflected in the modes of government.

The third part of the exhibit focuses on the people of Champa, who inhabited the coastal kingdoms between Binh Thuan Province in the south and Quang Tri Province in the north. Although their history dates as far back as the Second Century, the Cham were at the height of power from the Fifth through the Fifteenth Centuries.

They were described as early as 1697 in the writings of William Dampler as "some of the briskest, most sociable [people], without Fearfulness or Shyness, neat and dexterous about their shipping." The Cham's prosperity came from a brisk trade in sandalwood and slaves. They are believed to have dabbled in piracy as well.

Still apparent from the coastline are brick Cham temples honoring Shiva perched atop hills. The rich-in-relief buildings were excellent landmarks for passing ships. All shipping between China and the rest of the world, except for the Philippines, hugged the Champa coast for at least 300 miles. In turn, up until the Twelfth Century, Cham ships carried Chinese goods from China to the Philippines. When gold was discovered in the Philippine archipelago, the Chinese began to deal directly. This reduction in trade may have been the turning point for the Cham's subsequent piracy.

"Viet Nam: From River Plain to Open Sea" culminates in an exploration of the ceramic trade from the Twelfth to Seventeenth Centuries as it was plied in and around the port city of Hoi An, also known as Faifo. About 12 miles from modern Da Nang, Hoi An was the hub of the export trade between China, Japan and Europe.

Many of the ceramics on display were discovered in a series shipwrecks along the Vietnamese coast. Often buried in several meters of sand — and sometimes looted — the booty has captivated treasure hunters and archeologists alike.

Found cargos have included hundreds of pieces of Vietnamese ceramics, along with items from Thailand, China and Japan. From these, it is clear that the Vietnamese had developed enhanced decoration techniques. Many pieces have underglaze painting of cobalt blue, others an underglaze blue with polychrome overglaze. The predominant forms of decoration in the Fifteenth Century were detailed paintings with thin brush strokes and broader designs painted with thick flourishes. A typical example is a 10-inch Yuhuchun blue and white bottle inlaid with gilded bodhi leaf-shaped panels. The question plaguing scholars: is the gilding of Vietnamese origin?

Although Vietnamese ceramics are not of the hard paste porcelain variety, they often embody other characteristics of detail that make them desirable.

The boom period of 1600–1634 was dominated by commercially licensed Japanese merchant vessels (shuinsen).

When the Tokugawa Shogunate banned foreign trade in 1635 and required all Japanese to return home, the foreign population of Hoi An became predominantly Chinese, a trend that was occurring at other ports throughout Southeast Asia. Still, trade with the Japanese did not come to an end. The Dutch had established a factory in Hirada in 1609, so goods continued to flow.

"Viet Nam: From River Plain to Open Sea" could not have been realized without the organizational supervision of the Asia Society and the goodwill of Viet Nam's museums. Items in the exhibition are on loan from ten Vietnamese museums.

The Museum of Fine Arts, Houston is at 1001 Bissonnet Street at Main. For information, www.mfah.org or 713-639-7300.