Bleu de Huế Porcelain (Bleu de Hué)

Bleu de Huế is Chinese porcelain made principally for the Vietnamese court and market. It combines underglaze cobalt-blue decoration with Vietnamese forms, subjects, inscriptions and marks.

Bleu de Huế porcelain dish, Lê–Trịnh period, Lord Trịnh Sâm, 1767–1782. Porcelain decorated in underglaze cobalt blue and bearing a Nội phủ thị đoài inscription. Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, accession no. 2007.402, Gift of John D. Constable. Image released under CC0.

What is Bleu de Huế?

The name Bleu de Huế—also written Bleu de Hué, Bleu de Huê or simply Hue blue—is traditionally applied to blue-and-white porcelain associated with Vietnam. Despite the name, the best-known wares were not manufactured in the city of Huế. They were generally produced at Chinese kilns for Vietnamese patrons.

Vietnamese rulers, court officials and members of the aristocracy commissioned porcelain according to particular requirements. Designs, poems, marks and sometimes vessel shapes could be supplied to Chinese workshops, which translated them into porcelain. For this reason, the Vietnamese expression đồ sứ ký kiểu, meaning porcelain made to order or from a supplied pattern, is often more precise than the older French name.

Production was not confined to one workshop. Many pieces are associated with Jingdezhen, while others were probably made at secondary kilns in Jiangxi. Quality consequently ranges from finely potted court porcelain with carefully painted decoration to more freely executed commercial wares. The National Gallery of Victoria records Chinese porcelain decorated with Vietnamese designs being commissioned from the mid-18th through the late 19th century.

Decoration and manufacture

Bleu de Huế decoration was painted in cobalt pigment directly onto the unfired porcelain body. A transparent glaze was then applied, and the vessel was fired at high temperature. Because the blue lies beneath the glaze, it is protected by the smooth glassy surface.

The cobalt may appear bright sapphire blue, dark indigo, grey-blue or almost black. Variations resulted from the pigment, the thickness of the painting, kiln conditions and the quality of manufacture.

Although the technique was Chinese, the visual language was frequently Vietnamese. Common subjects include dragons, phoenixes, qilin, lotus, flowering plants, crabs, ducks, landscapes and scenes drawn from literature. Poems and inscriptions may form an important part of the design. Vietnamese dragons can often be distinguished by their movement, proportions and distinctive facial features, although individual workshops interpreted supplied designs differently.

Bowls, dishes, cups, wine vessels, covered boxes, incense holders and small bottles were among the forms ordered. Some shapes were adapted to Vietnamese dining, drinking and ceremonial customs.

Historical development

Important commissions were already being made during the Lê–Trịnh period, particularly in the 18th century. Porcelain bearing marks connected with the residence of the Trịnh lords forms one of the most recognisable early groups.

Commissioning continued under the Nguyễn dynasty, established in 1802 with Huế as its imperial capital. Official diplomatic and tributary missions provided opportunities to place orders in China and transport completed porcelain back to Vietnam. Nguyễn emperors, court officials and wealthy private patrons all commissioned wares.

By the 19th century, production was no longer limited to the finest palace orders. Chinese workshops also manufactured porcelain for a broader Vietnamese market. Later commercial pieces sometimes repeated earlier marks and decorations, so a mark should never be used as the sole evidence of age.

The Nei Fu or Nội phủ mark

Reference diagram of the characters 內府, read Nội phủ in Vietnamese and Nei Fu in Chinese. This is an explanatory rendering rather than a tracing of a particular historical mark.

The two characters 內府 are read Nội phủ in Vietnamese and Nei Fu in Chinese. They may be translated as “inner palace” or “inner residence”. On porcelain, the term indicates an association with palace use, but it does not by itself prove that a piece is imperial or of the period suggested.

Longer Lê–Trịnh inscriptions include Nội phủ thị trung, Nội phủ thị hữu, Nội phủ thị đông, Nội phủ thị nam, Nội phủ thị bắc and Nội phủ thị đoài. These marks appear to identify different palace contexts or intended destinations. Their precise administrative meanings and the occupants associated with each direction remain subjects of scholarly discussion, so fixed descriptions such as “for the queen” or “for the princes” should be treated cautiously.

Later Nguyễn-period porcelain may bear reign-related inscriptions such as Minh Mạng niên chế, Thiệu Trị niên chế and Tự Đức niên chế. Other pieces carry auspicious or connoisseurial expressions such as Trân ngoạn, Ngoạn ngọc or Ngọc.

Historical marks were handwritten and naturally vary in calligraphy, position and strength of colour. They were also repeated on later wares and reproductions. Dating therefore requires examination of the porcelain body, foot, glaze, cobalt, painting style and signs of use as well as the mark.

Metal-mounted rims

Many surviving dishes and bowls have copper, brass, silver or other metal bands fitted around their rims. These mounts protected the vulnerable porcelain edge and could also conceal small chips.

A metal rim may be original to the period of use or a later repair. Its presence is characteristic of many Bleu de Huế collections, but it is not reliable evidence of a particular date by itself.

Identification and collecting

A Bleu de Huế attribution should be based on the relationship between Chinese manufacture and Vietnamese taste. Useful features include:

• A Chinese porcelain body, glaze and method of manufacture.
• Underglaze cobalt-blue painting.
• Vietnamese court marks, poems or personal inscriptions.
• Vietnamese interpretations of dragons, phoenixes and other subjects.
• Forms intended for Vietnamese dining or ceremonial use.
• Construction, wear and painting consistent with the proposed period.

Not every piece of Vietnamese blue-and-white ceramic is Bleu de Huế. Vietnam possessed its own important ceramic industries centuries before these court commissions. The term is best reserved for Chinese-made porcelain ordered for, or specifically directed toward, Vietnamese patrons.

Later copies and commercial imitations are common. Marks can be convincing even when the porcelain is comparatively recent, making the quality of the body, foot, glaze and decoration particularly important.

Bleu de Huế porcelain is best understood as a collaborative art. Chinese ceramic knowledge supplied the material and firing technology, while Vietnamese patrons shaped the objects’ appearance, meaning and use. The result is a distinctive body of porcelain that records centuries of artistic and diplomatic exchange between the two cultures.