“The final steps, such as fitting the pieces of mirror paintings into frames, resulted in a product that left the whole group in disbelief. The three stunning mirror paintings lay before us, reflecting the glorious past of the Nguyen Dynasty nearly two centuries ago…”.
Those are the emotional words of Nguyen Huy, a member of the Tan Do Thanh Hieu Co group, with Thua Thien Hue Online. He expressed his heartfelt sentiments along with the group’s dedicated photo collection about their journey to restore the imperial mirror paintings of Hue after 180 years.
“All of this success is thanks to the fortuitous meetings with people who share a passion for cultural heritage - those who digitize historical photos, researchers, and artisans. These three fortuitous encounters culminated in the successful restoration of the mirror paintings,” Huy added.
Mirror painting is a decorative art form dating back to the early Nguyen Dynasty. The plan to reconstruct Can Chanh Palace motivated Tan Do Thanh Hieu Co to seek out documents about the palace and its historical artifacts, including mirror paintings. Despite the challenging restoration process, the group was driven by a powerful motivation. Their team included a member who has studied and collected Hue imperial mirror paintings for over ten years, another member skilled in digitizing detailed images of mirror paintings, a researcher specializing in Nguyen Dynasty architecture and 3D reconstructions of imperial gardens, and the participation of Tran Van Nhanh, a renowned mirror painting artist from Long An with over forty years of experience.
Thua Thien Hue Online would like to invite our readers to join us in admiring a portion of the beauty born from this passion for heritage.
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| The “Tri Luu Lien Phang” painting from the Co Ha Vien Thap Canh series after restoration |
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| Artist Tran Van Nhanh working on reverse painting techniques on glass for the "Thanh Tri Huong Luyen" |
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| Artist Tran Van Nhanh inspecting the front side of the painting after completion |
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| The original “Tri Luu Lien Phang” displayed at the Faculty of History, University of Sciences, Hue University |