Mr T’s bleu de hue collection

Do you remember your first work trip?

As more companies are going regional and even international, overseas work trips are becoming a commonplace. For Mr T, his first official overseas work trip did not come until he was in his mid 30s. T was very lucky to be involved in the first VSIP (Vietnam Singapore Industrial Park) project during the mid 1990’s as it was quite an important part of Singapore’s strategy then to expand beyond our small and limited land space. T still remembers vividly the overwhelming number of motorbikes that roam the streets of HCMC and the number of people and things they can fit on a seemingly small scooter.

So the hotel that he was put up at was located relatively near the famous market in Ho Chi Minh City named Cho Ben Thanh and like all good travelers in the past, T always remembered to bring some goodies back for his family and friends whenever he had to travel to Vietnam. Despite having visited the market many times and made numerous rounds in Cho Ben Thanh, he can’t seem to find something meaningful enough to mark his first overseas work-trip. So he decided to wander off a little away from Cho Ben Thanh and not too far from it he found this small 2-way street where stores are filled with everything old like coins, birdcages, vintage pendant lamps, furniture, just all sorts. Among all these interesting looking shops, the one that really caught his attention was one that specialised in porcelain. The shop was almost fully furnished with art-decor style glass and teak wood display cabinets, T recalled the place was so packed with those cabinets that he can’t seem to find an empty wall or pillar. Like us, you may be visualising a really messy looking second hand goods store now, but T said it created a more organised mess than a chaotic mess impression on him. Which was an important reason why he stepped into the store as he is not a frequent vintage/antique shopper and the tidier outlook of the shop gave him some reassurance. He eventually found something he like and got it at a price which he felt was reasonable. Although he was exactly sure if it was a genuine antique or is it even really made in Vietnam, he bought it anyway because he know he couldn’t settle for anything else he saw in the more touristy Cho Ben Thanh.

After showing the plate he bought to some of his Vietnamese counterparts and antique shops in Singapore, he now knows that what he got is indeed an antique piece but it may not actually be made in Vietnam. The piece he got belongs to a group of export porcelain we call “Bleu De Hue”, they are relatively high quality Chinese porcelain made for the Vietnamese court. While the motifs of dragons and phoenixes may suggest a Chinese origin, most of the motifs we see on Bleu de Hue porcelains are designed by Vietnamese artist and commissioned to be made in Jiangxi, the best pieces are probably even made in Jingdezhen itself.

So this led to Mr T going back to that antique shop every time he had the chance and he bringing back some Bleu De Hue to build his own mini collection. Check out some of the pieces from Mr T’s collection, we have also selected our “Pick from the Pack” from the section below, enjoy!

What’s not to like about lotus and mandarin ducks? In our experience they seem less common compared to the ones with phoenix with scroll motif, moreover the combination of the lotus and mandarin ducks mean harmony and blissful relationship/marriage.