A monument management centre in the central province of Ha Tinh has announced the discovery of an old pottery disk that depicts the Kieu sisters, the characters in the famed Tale of Kieu poem epic. 

The pottery disk depicting the Kieu sisters was found in Nghe An (Photo: sggp.vn)

Ho Bach Khoa, head manager at the centre designated for the Tale of Kieu’s author Nguyen Du, said on August 23 that his centre got the disk from antique collectors in neighbouring Nghe An province. 

Khoa believed that the disk was produced in the 1940s by pottery makers in the southern region of Vietnam.

The disk is 17cm in diametre and in good condition. The white disk is decorated with a blue coloured painting depicting a scene from the Tale of Kieu, in which the Kieu sisters are walking and enjoying the spring when they meet the horse-riding Kim Trong character.

Khoa said the scenes in the Tale of Kieu were rarely depicted on pottery produced in the southern region, so the disk is a rare item. Khoa said the centre is showcasing the disk for researchers and the public. 

Nguyen Du (1765-1820) was a mandarin and a gifted poet of Vietnam in the imperial time. His epic poem - the Tale of Kieu is considered one of the greatest poetic works of the country. –VNS