Let’s watch the Sword Lake scene
See The Huc bridge and Ngoc Son temple
The Pen Tower and the Ink Slab have not been worn
Wonder who built these beautiful scene
Actually, this is just one of many paintings by Tran Phuc Duyen created on this subject and during this period. He painted Ngoc Son temple in many angles, many light states, in many times of the day or to the season. But if it is said to paint in a circular composition, on a small dish, this is probably the only known painting of Tran Phuc Duyen, at the same time it is also a work that is very characteristic of his lacquer painting style, in a combination of both techniques: uniform classical lacquer and bright lacquer.
Only on a small area that fits in a dish with a diameter of 29cm but still covers the vast scale of the scene to such detail, it is a painter who properly has a talent for observation and sophisticated expression. The abruptness of the decoration has been brought in quite naturally through the broad swaths of the trunk and the branches of flamboyants are in bloom, and there is one more branch of the flamboyant that is drawn inwards making the painting space more airy and lively.
Here, the drawing substance is expressed both by “direct” pen strokes, and by “indirect” graphic strokes, and by sanding techniques – create rich effects of light-dark, hidden-show, hot-cold, transparent-opaque: a very basic but unique way of expressing lacquer “Tran Phuc Duyen”, hard to confuse with anyone else.
