Grand bol

This plain-coloured, undecorated bowl with thin walls, made of a hard, dense clay, attests to the excellent quality of clay available in northern Vietnam. The thin, runny ivory glaze gives it a brilliant lustre that is characteristic of Vietnamese ware, as is its round form and very slightly drawn in lip.
This piece comes from the excavations of Olov Janse. Although Janse was particularly interested in the period contemporary with the Han dynasty, while excavating tombs dating from the early centuries AD he made the chance discovery of several later tombs, dating from the 11th to 13th centuries. These tombs, which were much more simple and without the burial mound and brick vault characteristic of the Giao Chỉ era, must have originally contained originally a wooden coffin and perhaps a panelling that has since dissolved in the acid soil. Funerary offerings had been arranged lengthwise, in the same direction as the body. Thanks to these discoveries, a whole ensemble of bowls, dishes and jars entered the collections of the Cernuschi Museum. Unlike the Giao Chỉ period, during which funerary ceramics appear to have been designed specifically for burial, ceramics after the 10th century reflected objects used by the wealthy elite during their lifetime.