Glazed ceramic vase of the School of Bien-Hoa, Decorations of sages, circa 1930

Glazed ceramic vase from the school of bien-hoa, decorated with six sages of the taoist tradition. The handles are shaped like elephant heads enamelled in black. The upper part of the vase is made of brown enamel decorated with rinses. The mark under the vase, "t s", is probably the monogram of the artist. The school of applied arts of bien-hoa was founded in 1903, on the initiative of georges maspéro, it aims to train art founders and especially potters and ceramists, based on an old local popular tradition...thus many french artists went to train there, the city of bien-hoa being then part of the french colonies, making productions combining vietnamese, chinese, khmer and french aesthetics, first art nouveau and then art deco.